Apricot tart with frangipane

Before the World Orienteering Champs, I needed some US Team clothing, and I had missed the order deadline. Kat came to the rescue, because she can't really orienteer anymore (at least to the level she considers worthwhile to do it at, due to injuries), so she sold me a bunch of her US Team clothing. And instead of charging me in full, we made a deal where I'd cook her dinner some night. This sounds like a win-win situation to me, so yesterday I headed down to New Haven for the night, to have some quality girl-time and enjoy some really tasty food.

Given the rainy, cold weather, I was feeling inspired by Belgian cuisine. I decided on a four-course meal, although eventually gave up on trying to pair Belgian beer with each course, because the liquor store I visited was inadequate. The first course was mussels, in a white-wine butter sauce with thyme, and crusty french bread. Then the main course was an endive gratin with ham and gruyere, with boef bourguinon in puff pastry shells. Then a salad with fennel, apple, toasted pecans and pomegranate seeds, and finally, an apricot frangipane tart. The boef bourguinon was actually left over, from the night before, at Peter and Gail's house, so that made the whole thing pretty quick to make. My favorite dish was definitely the tart, so I'm going to start with that recipe, and work backwards!

Apricot and frangipane tart on puff pastry

Frangipane:
3 tbs butter
1/4C sugar
1 egg
1/2C almond meal
1/2tsp almond extract

Apricot tart:
1 can apricot halves
2/3 of a sheet puff pastry

For the frangipane, you basically make a cookie. Cream the butter with the sugar, and then stir in the egg and the almond extract. Then stir in the almond meal. You could also take blanched almonds and grind them up in a food processor, if you don't have almond meal. It makes a loose cookie dough thing.



To assemble the tart, break or cut the puff pastry into long strips (it comes folded in thirds, so if you don't bother thawing it, it'll just crack at the folds, and that makes a convenient size for tarts. Spread some of the frangipane over the frozen puff pastry leaving a little room around the edges, and then plop on some apricots.



Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, until the edges of the puff pastry are starting to get golden brown. Pull out, let it cool a bit, and eat!