I had to work all of this past holiday weekend, and didn't have time to cook anything complicated. I had bought lovely peaches at the natural foods co-op (where they sell organic fruit that actually smells like it's supposed to, unlike those plastic pieces of fruit at the super market). So I handed my daughter Emily several cookbooks and told her to look for a rustic fruit tart recipe. As a child of the new century, she simply did a web search and picked out a recipe that sounded good and looked simple. I was impressed with this. The recipe had no accompanying picture (I was was trained by my mother to cook by picture), yet it seemed simple enough. Basically I just needed a crust to hold these gorgeous peaches together.
I would provide a link to the recipe, but not only did I change the manner or preparing the dough, I changed the ingredients. The original recipe gave careful directions for mounding the flour on your work surface, adding the egg yolk, and sugar and so on. I didn't have that kind of time. I threw the ingredients in the food processor, whirred them about, rolled the dough into a ball and carried on. The tart was ready to eat one and a half hours after we started.
For the dough, put the following into the food processor with a metal blade attachment:
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup Crisco (I use the stick form because I can also cut that into pieces like the butter)
- 1 egg yolk 1/4 cup sugar
- 4-5 tablespoons of ice water
Pulse blend until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal. Add water 1/2 tablespoon at a time until it starts to come together. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead gently into a ball, adding more water if you need to. Do not overwork the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour.
For the filling you will need:
a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Roll out the chilled dough on a floured surface to make a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Place on a baking sheet and coat evenly to within one inch of the edge with the preserves. Mix the fruit with the brown sugar and spices. Mound the fruit into the center of the dough and fold the dough up over the fruit, making an edge of folded dough about two inches wide. Brush the exposed dough with the egg white left from the egg, and sprinkle it with the raw sugar. Bake about 30 minutes until the crust is browned and the fruit bubbling. Cool to room temperature before serving.
The one my daughter and I made for the 4th, disappeared quickly. The peaches that I had bought were fabulous, and it would have been hard to make something with them that didn't taste great. But my husband said it was the best dessert he had ever eaten. I made another one with more fresh peaches and blueberries from the farmer's market. I think it could easily be made with any combination of fresh summer fruits (except, perhaps, watermelon!).

