Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Fresh Peach Tartlet - It's Like a Peach Tart Only Smaller

Here is the peach tartlet video recipe I promised the other day. It's a Julia Child recipe from one of the cookbooks she did with Jacques Pepin. I was going to do this delicious dessert for the Julie & Julia post, but decided to go with the more substantial roast chicken recipe.

This is about the easiest "looks hard" pastry technique I know. You can make the pie crust dough if you want (I've also posted my mother's key lime pie video below so you can see how easy pie crust is), or you can grab a package of the Pillsbury pie crust that is in just about every store these days.

I usually don't give brand names, but in this case I will since I've tried a couple brands and the Pillsbury is by far the best. It actually has lard in the ingredients, and as any pie maker will tell you, when it comes to delicious, flaky crust, lard kicks ass.

This recipe features the unusual and exotic Chinese 5-spice powder. Peaches are a natural with the aromatic blend of anise, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and Szechuan peppercorns, which usually make up this thousand-year-old spice.

By the way, by watching and mastering this technique, you just learned like 12 different tartlet recipes. This works equally well with apples, pears, plums, etc. Just adjust the caramelizing time based on the density of the fruit so it will be perfectly cooked in the 15 minutes it sits on the tartlet. Enjoy!



Ingredients for 8 tartlets:
2 tbsp butter
3 large peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 pieces (24 slices total)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice
1 box (15-oz) ready-to-use piecrust (2 sheets)
1 egg, beaten plus 1 tsp water

How To Make Pie and Tart Crust:


22 comments:

Pyrofish said...

Excellent! I am definitely adding this to the must try list. It looks impressive on the plate, but simple on the prep! Nice!

chris said...

good stuff. mom's recipes are always the best.

pricking = docking

Stewart Gray said...

Where's the 5-spice gong? Anyway, when the peaches bloom on our tree they will definitely be part of this recipe.

Anonymous said...

Looks delicious of course. I'm just curious, if the peaches are really sweet, should less sugar be used? Also, are white or yellow peaches better for this? Thanks

Chef John said...

both white or yellow peaches work equally well. there's only 1/4 cup of sugar, so i wouldn't reduce.

cynthia in the French Alps said...

Very nice recipe and video. I'm bookmarking this blog! I have 4 hungry French mouths to feed at home and I mostly cook what I learned in California so I need help with cooking French. Doing experiments on my own at home. Cynthia in the French Alps

joshua said...

i live in florida so i get REAL key lime pie!

Bill W, NH said...

will make later today, have leftovers to eat for dinner so my need to cook something new every day will be satisfied.

Christine Medifast said...

This is a great way to still enjoy a peach tart but not as much at one time. Thanks for sharing this. Looking forward to having it.

Yubi Shines said...

Since nectarines are hard and crunchy, approximately how much longer should they cook in the pan?

tut said...

I like five spice but make your own or buy fresh!Great recipe Chef John thanks again!!!Making your gnocchis with your beurre blanc sauce an adding mushrooms to sauce should be good,also lemon glazed yams,not sure where thats from lol,but wife bought peachs day before yesterday so I making your tarts to.You The Best.

Bill W, NH said...

I had one Pillsbury pie dough in the freezer so didn't make a whole recipe's worth, just used two peaches that were on wrong side of ripeness so had to saute them a bit longer. I just used the whole pie dough to make one large tart. Perfect oven timing and a great taste from the Chinese 5 spices, unique. It's half gone.

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

The "less offensive" culinary term you and your mother couldn't recall is "docking" the crust.

I love that you made a video with your mother :). Her pie looks delicious!!!

Owyn from Medifast Coupons said...

Delicious. I was searching for a peach tartlet recipe and this is perfect. Not only do you show me how to make it, but make it look so easy. Thanks for this!

Radian78 said...

These were amazing! The five spice really works well with the peaches. I'm gonna have to get me a silicone mat though... the wax paper just didn't cut it ;)

Anonymous said...

Dear Chef John,

I tried this yesterday, including the self made pie dough, and it came out incredibly well. Even though I made it for the first time it took me only about twenty minutes before it was ready for the oven.

I don't have access to the chinese spices here, where I live, but I substituted with a cinnamon and pepper mixture (no idea if the pepper did something though, I could not really taste it in the end product). Nevertheless the result was, as you like to say, delicious!

Thank's again for another great recipie and the profund explanantion and video, that made it possible for me to cook this reci"pie" with only looking at the video once, then walking into my kitchen and doing it.

I think your videos should be a freshmans must in any "chef college"

Johannes
(from Austria)

Anonymous said...

How do you get your tartlets to come out golden? I've tried three times (once with the ready-to-go dough) and still can't avoid them coming out pale and sickly...
Cheers,
Jesse from Detroit

Unknown said...

I made this a few weeks ago and it was AMAZING. So good.

Mildred said...

I am glad I used the chinese 5-spice powder for this dessert! You are right, Chef John, it really enhanced the the taste of the peach tarts! Made a batch this afternoon and my family loved them! Thanks Chef! :)

Anonymous said...

I love your videos. I met you in youtube and now I have to dinner watching you and have to be careful as I laugh so hard. Great sense of humor as the great chef you are.

Thanks for the entertainment.

Nepenthe said...

My daughter and I made this tonight. It was delicious! She wants to make it with blueberries next. Do I use the same spice, same method, etc? We love you, Chef John. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes!

Rike said...

I had some last of the season, past their prime peaches in the fridge so I made these tarts and they are so delicious. I used your pie dough recipe since you can't buy ready made pie dough over here and even though I've never made pie in my live, it came out perfectly on the first try.
Tomorrow: apple pie!