'Food Network Star' finalist Martie Duncan of Birmingham, Ala. shares her mom's recipes (video) (2024)

Martie Duncan (Special / Food Network)

Martie Duncan, a Birmingham-based expert on entertaining, will be one of 15 people to compete on the new season of "Food Network Star.''

The 30-minute casting special will air tonight at 8 and 11 p.m., and on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on Food Network. The 2-hour first episode of competition will air on Sunday at 8 and again at 11 p.m. Duncan will watch the first episode on Sunday at Slice Pizza and Brew, 725 29th St. South, with family, friends and supporters.

A profile on Duncan will appear in the Sweet Home section of Sunday's The Birmingham News, where she talks about the show and her late mother, Martha Bosshart. Here, Duncan shares her mother's popular pound cake recipe. She also shares a peach tart recipe, which can be made with her mother's pastry recipe. (Go here to see the Sunday story.)

MARTIE DUNCAN'S MOTHER'S POUND CAKE

Ingredients

Martie Duncan recently made a pound cake, using a recipe from her late mother. The peach tarts are made with her mother's crust recipe. (The Birmingham News / Beverly Taylor)

3 sticks butter, room temperature

1 - 8 oz package cream cheese , softened

3 cups sugar

6 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tsp vanilla

¨1 1/2 tsp almond extract

1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 300. Prep a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan. Grease and flour or spray withBaker's Joy.

In the bowl of your mixer, beat the cream cheeseand the butter at medium speed until creamy. Then add the sugar, a little at a time. Next, add the eggs, one at a time, beating until they are combined.

Turn the speed on the mixer down. Combine the salt and the flour; adding a little at a time until it is blended. Add the almond and vanilla.

Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a wire cooling rack to allow it to cool completely.

FRESH PEACH TARTS

Makes 2-3 tarts

For the pastry:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons granulated or superfine sugar

1/4 teaspoonkosher salt

1/4 pound (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, diced

2 tablespoons ice water plus a few drops(you may need a few drops more if the dough seems a bitdry)

For the filling:

1 1/2 pounds fresh peaches, sliced(4-5 medium peaches, overlyripened peaches can be a bittoo juicy so just ripe peaches actually work best)

1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest

Martie Duncan used her mother's pie crust recipe to make the pastry for these peach tarts. "It melts in your mouth and you use (the pie crust recipe) for a variety of different things,'' she said. "It's so light. It's really delicious.'' (The Birmingham News / Beverly Taylor)

1teaspoon fresh orangejuice or substitute Grand Marnier or orange liqueur

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced into small pieces

1 tablespoon orange marmalade, heatedfor a finishing glaze

Egg Wash (optional)

1 egg, beaten

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of afood processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse a few times to combine the dry ingredients. Add the butter, a little at a time, pulsing between additions until the butter is the size of peas. Then, turn the food processor on andadd the ice water all at once through the feed tube. Turn it back off butkeep hitting the pulse button to combine, but stop the machine just before the dough becomes a solid mass. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap.Don’t over workthe doughbecause it willbe tough. Wrap the round with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When you are ready to make thetarts, lightly flour your work surface and yourrolling pin.Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. Use a biscuit cutter or a knife to cut 2-3 smaller circles.I like to usea small saucer as a guide and cut around it.Wrap it over the rolling pin and transfer it to a baking sheet.

For the filling,peeland cut the peaches. I like the look of slices- I usually slice a medium peachinto 8 slices. Put the peachesin a bowl and toss with the orange zest and orange juiceor orange liqueur. Next, add the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and allspice. Add the cold butter. Mix all of the ingredients together until the peachesare well coated. Spoonthe peachesonto the crust, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border all the way around. Gently fold the border over the peaches to enclose the dough, pleating it to make a circle. Finish the crust with an egg wash if you like. Simply beat the egg well and lightly brush it over the crust before baking.

Bake the tarts for 20-22 minutes, until the crust is golden and the peaches are tender.

Make a finishing glaze by putting a teaspoon oforange marmalade and a few drops of water in a heat-proof bowl and microwave for a few seconds. Lightly brush the top of the peaches with theorange marmalade. Allow to cool slightly before cutting.

Martie’s note: Use this recipe with any fruitbut reduce the amount of butter in the filling if your fruit is really juicy.You can easily double the recipe if you want to make a larger amount and you can make the tarts as large or small as you like.