After a month in Indonesia visiting family, Tjing and I returned to summer here in Northern California. It's the towards the tail-end of the season for stone fruits, and peaches and their clean shaven cousins, nectarines, are at peak sweetness. Going to the farmers market the morning after we got back, I picked up several pounds of perfectly ripe yellow peaches and white nectarines. Although they were fine eaten fresh without any adornment, I decided to use some to make
this tart which I came across while surfing the web in Java. I liked the simple directness of the tart, its focus on the fruit, but I thought I'd give it an Indonesian tweak by using some
lemongrass kaffir lime pepper jam instead of the red currant preserves it calls for. I thought a touch of heat with the fruit would be a nice touch.
Other than using demerara sugar instead of white sugar to sprinkle on the fruit, and the substitution of the
kaffir lime chili jam for the red currant preserves, I stuck to the
Times recipe. The crust is a straightforward pate sucree, a crust that is pretty much foolproof. As the fruit is front and center, it's important that you use the best that you can find. I wouldn't attempt to make this tart with any fruit that you wouldn't be as happy eating fresh.
I served this with some crème fraìche, as suggested in the original recipe, but a good vanilla ice cream would also go well with it. It is also fine just on its own.
