Tarte à la rhubarbe et aux pêches

rhubarb peach tart3

Rhubarb tart with peaches

This recipe marries rhubarb and peaches, an unusual but tasty combination. It uses the sweet and flaky crust known in France as pâte sablée. This may be made ahead of time and left in the fridge to chill until you are ready to prepare the fruit.

Choose a tart pan about 8-10 inches (20-25 cm) in diameter. Lacking a tart pan, any pie pan will work — even a rectangular one. Regarding the ingredients, if you cannot find raw sugar use white sugar instead. Any peach variety will be fine.

1 unbaked sweet tart shell (pâte sablée)
12 ounces (300 g.) fresh rhubarb
2 peaches
1/2 cup (100 g.) plus 2 tbsp. raw sugar, preferably cassonade or demerara
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (20 cl) crème fraîche or heavy cream
2 egg yolks

1/4 cup (50 g.) white sugar

Begin by making the tart shell. Pat the dough into your tart pan as explained in the recipe and set in the fridge. Important: do not prick the crust or the juice will run underneath and make it soggy. The crust should chill for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5 (375 F, 190 C).

Now prepare the fruit. Rinse the rhubarb, cut off the ends and slice into pieces about one inch (2.5 cm) long. Rinse the peaches, cut into quarters and cut each quarter in half horizontally. You do not need to remove the skins.

Combine the fruit in a bowl with 1/2 cup raw sugar and the cinnamon. Stir gently.

In a separate bowl, combine the cream, egg yolks and 1/4 cup white sugar. Stir well to blend.

Remove the tart shell from the fridge and spoon the fruit evenly over the bottom. Pour the cream over the fruit. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp. raw sugar.

Place in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until the cream has set and is starting to brown. Do be careful, as ovens vary. If the crust appears to be browning too fast, turn down the heat a little.

Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. This tart may be served warm or at room temperature. Serves 8.

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7 Responses to Tarte à la rhubarbe et aux pêches

  1. Lenita says:

    I have just made the rhubarb and peach tart and it looks wonderful, but I have a question: I used a 9 inch tart pan (it has a removable bottom so I put some foil around it in case it leaked – it did) and baked it about 45 minutes. The juice from the peaches became part of the filling (that’s fine), but then the combination of juice/filling soaked into the chilled crust which in turn means part of the crust is pretty soggy. What should I have done or what can I do in the future?

    • Meg says:

      Hi Lenita. Very sorry to hear that the tart got soggy. My advice: 1) Next time use a pan without a removable bottom if you have one. 2) Do not prick the crust. 3) Add the filling to the crust at the very last minute before placing the tart in the hot oven. This way the heat will seal the crust quickly, before the cream has a chance to penetrate the chilled dough. I’ve made this and similar tarts many times without sogginess, so I know that it’s possible. Hope you will try again. All best, Meg

      • Lenita says:

        Hi, Meg:
        I will definitely try it again as the flavors of the peaches and rhubarb together were incredible. I didn’t prick the crust and I added the filling at the last minute, but next time I WILL use a pan without a removable crust. Thanks for your reply.
        Lenita

  2. Keith Daffern says:

    I made this Tarte à la rhubarbe et aux peches last week. I used the two egg yolks in the tarte and cooked the tarte in the oven for 40 minutes during which time I made a meringue mixture with the two egg whites and 2 tbsp of sugar. After the 40 minutes in the oven I spread the meringue mixture over and placed it in the oven again for 5 to 8 minutes. It was Superb.

  3. Keith Daffern says:

    I would very much like to make the Tarte à la rhubarbe et aux peches, but can you please tell me how many egg yolks to use as in the list of ingredients it does not mention egg yolks. I look forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards,
    Keith

    • Meg says:

      Dear Keith,

      Thank you so much for pointing out that I forgot to include the number of egg yolks when I posted the recipe yesterday. The recipe has now been amended, and the number of egg yolks to use is 2.

      All best, Meg

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