soup man peach turnovers

Across the street from our office is a soup man. He sells about 20 different soups daily in his tiny shop. We love the soup man. He's no soup Nazi. He's a kind-eyed and quietly smiling man who is very generous with his soup. Also his cookies, which he will tuck in the bag when you're not looking. He's Mexican, and when you ask him for Mexican Meatball, he points to himself and says, "You want this?!" Funny every time.

The soup man gives you a piece of fruit with your soup. You don't get to choose what kind of fruit; you take what you get. Banana, apple, plum, nectarine. I don't always eat my fruit (the soup really fills you up) so I got in the habit of lining my fruit up on my desk. On the weeks I am very lazy and don't pack my lunch, my lineup of fruit can grow quite long. My coworkers started poking fun of my lineup and adding their own uneaten fruit to my desk. Last week he was giving out peaches, and by Friday this was the scene on my desk:



I packed them all up and took them home and made turnovers. I brought them in to work Monday. Now everybody is giving me their soup man fruit in the hopes I will make more confections. Not likely to become a regular occurrence.

This crust is an easy and forgiving dough--rolls out nicely and generally cooperates in a way that other recipes I've tried do not.

Pate Brisee:
5 cups flour
1/2 lb butter
3 egg yolks
2/3 cup buttermilk

Cut the very cold butter into the flour. (If you have a sturdy standing mixer, use that. If you have a food processor, use that. If you have neither, well then roll up your sleeves and have at it with a pastry cutter or two knives. The idea is to get an even, grainy texture without melting the butter.) Add the buttermilk and yolks and stir until just mixed.

This makes quite a lot of dough, probably enough for 2 full-size pies (with tops). The dough freezes well, just be sure to defrost it in the fridge until it is thawed to rolling consistency. It's great for sweet or savory pies. If you like a sweeter crust, toss in a few tablespoons of sugar.

For the insides, just about any fresh fruit is good. For the peaches, I added a couple spoonfuls of sugar, some fresh grated nutmeg, and about a tbs of flour. You can't really go wrong here.

Brush the tops with a mixture of 1 egg and a drizzle of water. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.



Twin doesn't like peaches. Crazy, right? But she put her lower lip out and looked so pitiful, so I made her a mini apple pie instead.