Celebrating Happy Valentines Day- Peach Berry Tart

Ive never been one to get caught up in the whirlwind of Valentine's Day. Im not a "twelve long stemmed  red roses" kind of girl (boring) and Im happy to wait until my birthday or Christmas for a special piece of jewellery (yes, silly I know). You probably all think Im rather weird!

My idea of the perfect Valentine's day is spending it with my number one Valentine- my wonderful husband- and also our three little Valentines. I love the idea of the children helping me to bake a cake (a surprise for Daddy), then sitting together around the table enjoying it (them taking a mess naturally) and teaching them what the day symbolises to us as a family. That is, a day where we really appreciate how lucky we are to have each other and our loved ones close by. They are still very young, so Im sure their excitement is purely over who gets to lick the spoon and bowl- but, as they get older Im sure they will understand.

This year we are in for a treat. We are having a date night- woohoo! We have tickets to the Riverboat Music Festival here in Echuca. Down by the river, picnic blanket, some dinner and wine, and an evening of live music. Cant wait! I originally had big plans of packing a delicious hamper, but have since heard that there will be some great food down there available. So, Im giving myself the night off!

But I can't not have something special on the bench for later, so here is a Peach Berry Tart we made yesterday with a Valentines Twist (i.e. the heart shaped tin!). I love the rustic golden look of the pastry and the sweet flavours of the fruit. Definitely worth trying this weekend- and don't worry if you don't have Peaches or berries, it can easily be adapted to suit most other fruits.

Peach Berry Tart

Pastry-
225g Plain Flour
1 Tablespoon Caster sugar
110g chilled butter, cut into small squares
icy water to mix

Fruit Filling-
90g caster sugar
2 heaped Tablespoons cornflour
700g sliced and peeled peaches
100g fresh blueberries
100g fresh strawberries

extra sugar for sprinkling

Make the pastry by sifting the flour and sugar together into a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add water slowly until mixture comes together. Put mix onto a floured bench and knead together. Form a disc and then wrap in cling wrap and put in fridge for 20 minutes.

Lightly butter and flour a 23cm round tart or cake tin. I used my heart shaped cake tin so feel free to experiment. Roll out pastry onto a lightly floured surface to a size that is larger than the size of your tin- allow plenty for overhang! Place pastry into tin. Don't trim excess- just leave it hang. Place in fridge for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 230 deg celcius. Mix the sugar and cornflour together and sprinkle over the peaches. toss through- careful not to overwork- the peaches might lose shape. Allow to sit for 5 minutes (no longer) then toss through berries gently. Place fruit mix into the pastry tin and fold excess pastry back over the fruit filling. Brush the outer pastry with some water and sprinkle over the extra sugar.

Place in oven and bake for 15-20 mins- keep an eye on it! Then turn down temperature to 180 deg celcius and bake for another 30-40 mins.

Serve warm or cold with custard, cream, or ice cream.

Enjoy your Valentines Day…..
Hope you have something fun planned xxx