Fresh Persimmon Tart with Sage Sugar

Persimmons are my food crush this fall.  They are taking the place in my heart that I usually reserve for heirloom tomatoes and fresh artichokes.

This week is all about the persimmon:

Persimmon, Pear & Fennel Salad with Fried Sage

Persimmon Tapanade with Marcona Almonds

And later this week a Persimmon Shrub for Homemade Sodas & Cocktails

Persimmons with Sage Sugar

Persimmons belong solidly in Autumn with their beautiful and bold orange color and sweet-tart subtle flavor.  When you slice them just right, they showcase a lovely hidden flower shape in the  center – something I wanted to highlight in this recipe.

I love pastries but when I hunt them down, it is usually something light and airy that isn’t too sweet.  Puff pasty is my new best friend in that regard.  It can go sweet or savory (like in Greg’s recipe for Chicken Pot Pie).  It bakes up golden, light and fluffy.

Puff Pastry just waiting for an egg wash

While I like a touch of sweet to my pastries, I don’t go for cloying.  Too sweet = my enemy.  I can only have a bite or so and if I am going to eat a pastry, I want it all.  A sprinkling of sage sugar seemed like a perfect foil to the light flavor of the persimmon and the airy puff pastry.

Persimmon Tart with Sage Sugar

Persimmon Tart with Sage Sugar

Ingredients:

• 5-6 Ripe, Firm Fuyu Persimmons
• 1 Box of Frozen Puff Pastry, defrosted according to the instructions on the package
• 1 Egg
• 1 tablespoon Water
• 1/2 cup Cane Sugar
• 5-6 Fresh Sage Leaves

Method:

Chiffon the sage leaves into thin ribbons (I use my kitchen shears) and add to a small bowl with the sugar.  Set aside.

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Divide the puff pastry into 4 equal parts and place on a baking sheet – one that is either greased with butter or on parchment paper.  I tried it both ways and felt like the parchment paper worked out better.

Egg Wash

Give the pastry some pricks all over with a fork.  Mix together the egg and water until frothy and brush over the pastry.  Put it back in the fridge on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Persimmons & Puff Pastry sprinkled with Sage Sugar

In the meantime, core the persimmons (just like you would a tomato) and slice into thin rounds.  The thinner the better.  Make sure the lovely flower is showing when you slice.

Pull the pastry out of the fridge and arrange the persimmon slices on top of the pastry.  Sprinkle about a tablespoon of the sage sugar evenly over the top of each one of the 4 sections.  If there is any sage sugar left over, I would imagine it would be delish is an adult beverage or in your morning oatmeal.

Ripe Persimmons ready to go in the oven!

Pop it all  into the oven and bake.  Start checking it after 20 minutes.  The pasty will be doing it’s puffy thing and starting to turn golden, the sugar will melt and the fruit will start to soften right up.  When it is the right shade of golden-brown, pull from the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes on the hot baking sheet before removing them to a cookie rack.  Try, try, try not to eat them all in one sitting.  OK, don’t try.  Just dig in.  The are delicious warm.

Persimmon Tart with Sage Sugar

These are relatively big pastries.  You can cut them down to size if you’d like – I recommend a pizza cutter to get that job done.

While you are at it, check out a couple of these persimmon dessert recipes:

• Persimmon Pudding from Saveur
• Persimmon Almond Cookies from Scaling Back Blog

Enjoy!

Lydia, Sage-obsessed this week