Pastries of Death Part 2: Necrotarine Tart

I think this might be the first pudding I've done for the blog!

The pastry from Pastries of Death Part 1 can be used for a variety of different pie and tart recipes. This is a very simple but delicious pudding that I made using some nectarines my mum bought. You could also use other fruit - experiment. The obvious choice would be peaches but apples would also be awesome. I used three nectarines for this recipe but ideally you want four so that it's generously filled.

Ingredients:

• 225g Shortcrust Pastry of Death (see below)
• 4 x nectarines
• 2-3 x tbsps brown sugar
• 1 x tbsp semolina (optional)

Method:

1. Stick the oven on at 180 degrees.
2. Roll your pastry out quite thinly on a clean, well floured surface - if there's a hole, plug it (that's what she said - wahey!) with some more pastry ripped from the outside and roll it flat again. The end goal is to make a nice thin, crispy pastry to complement the soft fruit.
3. Grease a sandwich tin (if you're not English, I mean a round cake tin) with vegetable oil and line it with baking parchment. Carefully lower the pastry into the tin, making sure it goes all the way up to the corners. Cut off the excess dangling over to make a nice neat, even crust - I didn't do this because I misjudged the amount of pastry I needed, if you're wondering about the photo. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a knife. Add another layer of baking parchment on top and fill it with pearl barley or rice, then stick it in the oven for about half an hour - the idea is that the pearl barley/rice weighs the pastry down and stops it from rising. When it's done, the pastry should be firm throughout - if not, put it back in the oven for a bit longer. Discard the top layer of baking parchment and the pearl barley/rice when it's done. This is called "baking blind".
   
4. Meanwhile, get to work on the filling. Start by coring the nectarines. To do this, take a nectarine, slice around the outside using a sharp knife, then twist it to separate the halves. Scoop out the stone with your fingers, or a teaspoon. Next, cut the peach halves in half and then in half again so that you've got little wedges.
5. Sprinkle the semolina on the bottom of the pastry and arrange your nectarine halves in a manly pattern on top. Sprinkle them with brown sugar and put the tart in the oven for about 25 minutes until the nectarines have caramelised.
6. Serve with a nice blob of ice cream.