RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Ruth Heiges Country Peach and Nectarine Pie - pareve
This is from the menu which Evelyn Rose offered last year in the Jewish Chronicle, UK (September 19, 1997). It's interesting to see how what she considers traditional varies to some degree from the kinds of things we have been posting and discussing. She writes: "For Rosh Hashanah this year, I have devised a menu that features the familiar foods of this festival — melons, grapes, apples, peaches and chicken — but in a less familiar guise. The whole meal translates these much-loved traditional foods into a contemporary idiom, reflecting the way we cook — and eat — these days." COUNTRY PEACH AND NECTARINE PIE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Serves 6-8. Best cooked on the day. Leftovers keep 2 days under refrigeration. Besides adding a touch of exotic flavour, the marzipan helps to protect the bottom of the pie from the fruit juices. 4 ripe peaches 4 ripe nectarines 4 oz. (125 g) white marzipan, chilled 1/2 lb (225g) puff pastry juice of 1 lemon 3 Tablespoons apricot jam 1 egg, beaten Preheat the oven to Gas No. 7 (425 F/220 C). Blanch the fruit by plunging it into boiling water for three minutes, then into a bowl of very cold water for two minutes. The skins will then be easy to lift off. Carefully cut in half and remove the stones. If the fruit is difficult to halve, cut away from the stone in thick slices. Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible, then lay in a round oven-to-table pie dish 9-10 inches (22.5-25cm) diameter or an oval gratin-type dish 14 x 9 x11/2inches (35 x 23 x 4 cm). There will be a large overhang of pastry at the edges. Coarsely grate the marzipan evenly over the pastry base, then arrange the halved or sliced fruit decoratively on top. Bunch up the additional pastry around the edge to form a rough "rim" very slightly overlapping the fruit at the edge. Glaze the pastry with the beaten egg. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is a rich golden brown and crisp to the touch. Melt the jam, then stir in the lemon juice. With a pastry brush, thickly glaze both the fruit and the pastry with the jam mixture. Serve slightly warm (reheats well on the day). Evelyn Rose -- "Table Talk" www.jchron.co.uk/jc/jcdat/97/SEPT19/cook_1.htm
