This week on Good Food’s Market Report Segment, Amelia Saltsman, author of the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market Cookbook tells Laura Avery how she likes to make the most of apricot season.
Amelia says this this tangy tart makes a great breakfast with a side of toast.
Makes one 10-inch tart
A 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom works best, but a 10-inch pie pan will do.
For the crust:
11⁄4 cups flour
1⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
For the filling:
1 egg
1 cup whole or low-fat Greek yogurt
4 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 lemon
1 to 11⁄4 pounds small ripe apricots, about 16
1 to 2 tablespoons warmed honey, optional
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter pieces and toss to coat. Use your fingertips or a pastry cutter to blend the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is uniformly crumbly and resembles very coarse cornmeal.
Pour into a 10-inch, 1-inch-deep tart pan and using gentle fingertip pressure, press the dough up the sides of the pan. Gently press remaining dough mixture evenly over bottom of the pan. Bake in preheated oven until pale golden, about 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and use the back of a soup spoon to smooth out any cracks that may have formed or to push crust back up the sides of the pan if it slumped.
Make the filling while the crust is baking. Whisk the egg in a medium bowl until completely blended. Stir in the yogurt and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Use a microplane to zest the lemon into the bowl. Halve and pit the apricots.
Spread the yogurt mixture in the crust. Place the apricot halves close together in a single layer, cut side down, in the filling. Sprinkle the tart with the remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake until the edges of the crust are deep golden and the filling is puffed and a knife point inserted in the center of the tart comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. If desired, drizzle warmed honey over the tart to form a glaze. Cool the tart on a rack 30 minutes before serving. The tart may be baked and kept at room temperature up to 12 hours ahead, or overnight in the refrigerator.
Don’t want to turn on the oven? Put together a platter of ripe apricots, toasted or raw almonds, and a self-serve bowl of sweetened Greek yogurt drizzled with honey and a little lemon zest. Serve with shortbread cookies. Or, skip the cookies and serve with toast for breakfast.
© 2014, Amelia Saltsman.