FREE-FORM FRUIT TART

FREE-FORM FRUIT TART image

Yield 1 8 servings

Number Of Ingredients 7

1 1/8 cups (about 5 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus some to dust work surface
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
2 cups pitted, peeled and sliced ripe stone fruit, like peaches, plums or nectarines (or use apples, pears or berries)
Confectioners' sugar, whipped cream, ice cream or crème fraîche

Steps:

1. Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse once or twice. Add 8 tablespoons of butter and turn on machine; process until butter and flour are blended and mixture looks like cornmeal, about 10 seconds. Add egg yolk and 2 tablespoons ice water and pulse machine on and off a couple of times. Remove and gather mixture into a ball, adding a little more water if necessary. Wrap in plastic, flatten into a small disk, and freeze dough for about 15 minutes (or refrigerate for 30 minutes or more) to ease rolling. (You can also refrigerate for a day or two, or freeze for a week or so.) 2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll crust out on a board sprinkled with flour or sprinkle it lightly with flour and roll between two sheets of plastic until about ¼ inch thick; it need not be perfectly round. Put it directly on a baking sheet. Melt remaining butter. 3. Cover round with fruit, leaving about a 1½-inch border all around. Fold up edges of crust around fruit, pinching them together. Cover just outer rim of fruit. Brush exposed dough with most of butter, and brush a little onto fruit as well. Bake until crust is golden brown and fruit bubbly, 20 to 30 minutes. 4. Remove from oven and cool on a rack; serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar, or topped with ice cream, whipped cream or crème fraîche. Yield: 8 servings