Apricot Pistachio Tart

There are few things I'd rather do more than spending a warm Saturday morning picking beautiful, perfectly ripe apricots with my best friend and daughter (which we did last weekend), but eating a delicious, just-baked tart from those apricots is one of them. I LOVE this fruit when it's in season. It's sweet, but not cloying, it's texture is perfect for pies and tarts, and it smells so incredibly good when baking. But honestly, I think the reason I love it most is because it reminds me of eating them on my godparents' front steps with my dad when I was very little. I takes me back to memories of ham steak breakfasts, milk from their farm, and the sound that apricot tree made when the wind kicked up. I don't think I got to go there but a few times, but the times I did were memorable. It's really amazing how foods can jog our memories, isn't it? 

Apricot Pistachio Tart
Ingredients
Crust:
1 C AP flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
2 T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick of cold, unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 C ice water

Topping:
5 ripe apricots
4 T flour
4 T sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
4 T cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch chuncks
1/4 C shelled, salted pistachios

Make the crust at least an hour ahead of time. Combine flours, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add 3/4-inch chunks of butter to the mixture. Combine with a fork until the mixture looks like a bowl of medium-sized marbles--do not overwork! You want to leave good-sized chunks of butter in the the dry mixture. Begin to drizzle the ice water over the the mixture a little at a time until it comes together, using your hands. Again, do not attempt to blend the ingredients. You just want the dough to come together into a ball. You may not need all of the water. Once a ball forms, flatten it into a disk, and wrap in plastic, storing in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before rolling out.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a clean, dry, floured surface. Roll out until it is 1/8-inch thick.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Slice apricots in half, removing pits, and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange in the center of the pastry. 

Make the topping. Combine flour, cardamom and sugar. Add butter chunks and pistachios. Combine all with a fork until the topping resembles small pebbles the size of the pistachios. Spread evenly over the fruit. Fold the edges of the pastry up over the fruit to hold in any juices released while cooking. 

Place in the center of the oven, and drop the heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and remove from heat. Let it cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges and serve. A scoop of vanilla bean ice cream would be perfect on this.