Rosy Nectarine Tart

 "What is your favorite flower?", a question for which I never have an answer.  But, I can tell you it would most certainly not be a Geranium.  Growing up we had about ten of those potted plants on our glassed-in front porch.  Every so often, my sister and I were each given a paper grocery bag and told to go pick the brown leaves and dead flowers off the Geraniums so they would "look nice".  I wonder why people don't ask: "What was your least favorite chore as a kid?" because I would definitely have an answer for that! :)

We had several other flowers around the yard and while Pansies were okay, I loved Snapdragons the most. They were so neat.  Most flowers are only good to look at but these you can actually 'play' with. Snapdragons "open" when you pinch them at the bottom of the blossom. I tried to find a video for you but had no such luck.

A close runner-up to the Snapdragon are these yellow Roses. Its the second time in a row I bought the "Rosy Outlook" bouquet from Trader Joe's. I looked around, just for variety, but kept coming back to these. I think they are absolutely beautiful.  Pale yellow petals with a peachy trim. So soft and elegant and the perfect bouquet for my yellow kitchen. :)

"Did you know that the rose is the national flower of the United States, the United Kingdom and the Maldives as well as being the official flower of several states and the province of Alberta. Rose once served as Honduras' national flower as well." (flowerexpert.com) 


Proflowers.com says yellow rose is symbolic of friendship and aboutflowers.com states that the yellow rose represents zealousness.

Anyways, enough about flowers... Lets talk about this tart. A while ago I stumbled upon a recipe for a "rose tart".  It looked just like the roses I buy! Absolutely lovely. I have been waiting to make this for my Mom's birthday. I knew she would appreciate the laborious process of making  this beautiful tart.
Happy Birthday Mom!

The flavor was delightful and it was well worth the effort -- once, but probably never again...Sorry, Mom. :(  It took more than three hours and I only got halfway through the tart! Thank goodness I had some blueberries leftover from the galette I made earlier that morning.  It looked funny at first but how is it any different then a half and half topping pizza? :-)

This recipe originally comes from Martha Stewart but I found it at Ciao Chow Linda.  She has a wonderful picture tutorial so I won't bother trying to explain how to make the roses. With the quality photos from my camera phone its really not worth trying to document the entire process. She warned her readers, so consider my advice your second warning: be prepared to set aside some time and patience. You will need them.  But seriously, enjoy making this. It really is something different.

Almond Crust
(can't remember where I got this but its pretty basic. 
Alternately you can use a crumbled cookie crust or pie crust of your choice)


1 cup almond meal (aka. almond flour or ground almonds)
3/4 cup AP flour
5 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
5 tbs butter

Blend ingredients and press tightly into a long tart pan or a 9 inch springfrom cake pan.

Rosy Nectarine Tart


7 + nectarines



Filling: (This part is a Martha Stewart recipe)
1 1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Chambord or brandy * I omitted this since I didn't have any
1/4 tsp salt 

1. Make and pre-bake a tart shell according to a recipe of your choice.  Set aside to cool completely.
2. Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat, whisk occasionally until butter solids begin to brown, about 5 mins. Remove from heat, set aside.
3. In medium bowl, whisk egg, sugar, lemon juice, Chambord and salt until light in color and double in volume, about 2 minutes. Add flour and reserved brown butter, whisk until well combined.
4. Slice nectarines into 1/8 inch slices. Make roses by loosely coiling a thin slice of nectarine for the center, then wrapping each additional slice around it, offsetting each slice from the previous one. Make and transfer enough roses to fill tart shell, filling any gaps with extra nectarine slices.
5. Whisk filling briefly, pour evenly over fruit, using a spoon to fill empty spaces. Bake at 375F, rotating tart halfway through, until filling has slightly puffed, about 40 mins.
Cool on wire rack. Makes one 9 inch tart. 

Nutritional Facts:

(1/8th of tart)

322 calories, 18g Fat*, 8g Saturated Fat, Carbs 36g, Fiber 3.3g, Sugars 21.7g, Protien 5.7g

Vitamin A 14%, Vitamin C 9%, Calcium 5%, Iron 8%

*The high fat content comes from the almond meal. So its the good kind :)