For Father’s Day morning, our friends invited us to come along on an Apricot-picking excursion. Mike and Diane Madison, who are the makers of the delicious Yolo Press Olive Oil (here I am, pregnant, with my first bottle–it’s green and spicy!) have an Apricot orchard on Putah Creek and hosted us all on their property (where we even took a dip in the cool creek).

Like Sal

, very few pieces of my fruit made it into my basket; but fortunately Aron was wise enough to grab a dozen or so slightly less ripe specimens, perfect for making a tart.

Hudson was my sous-chef and did all of the taste-tests along the way. I made the same savory pastry dough as the one I used for my mushroom and leek tart. I like the way the cracked pepper in the crust stands up to a sweeter filling. The recipe (here) is quite simple, and you don’t need to use a food processor. This time I used a hand-held pastry blender.

I pre-baked the crust for about 20 or so minutes at 375-degrees in a 9-inch tart pan, and then made the decision to dirty up the food-processor after-all so that I could make an almond paste: about 1/4 cup of almonds to a 1/4 cup of confectioner’s sugar and a little water to get it smooth. I smeared the almond paste on the slightly cooled crust and then added the apricot slices before baking it all another 30 minutes or so (your nose can usually be the guide, but just be sure the edges don’t burn). A little more confectioner’s sugar at the end and it was all set! I’m definitely going to be doing this with a mix of stone fruit this summer, but I loved how this easy tart featured our freshly-picked apricots.

Almost as delicious as the memory of picking apricots on Father’s Day, and looking for crawfish in Putah Creek.

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