French Pear Tart

Not at All Tart



I polished off the last bite of New Year's duck about 8:30 Sunday night, dumped the dishes in the sink, and made coffee to go with dessert: a pear tart. A few months ago I'd run across a recipe at myhouseandgarden.com that had immediately captured my taste buds. I'd been waiting for the right opportunity to try it and this seemed like the perfect meal for it.

The recipe is simple and straight forward and, as I thought when I first read it, the combination of pear and almond flavors is delicious. To carry through on the almond theme, I added Amaretto to unsweetened whipped cream for the topping.

Over all, it was too sweet for my taste, but I think I could reduce the sugar in the frangipane a good deal without affecting it's cooking characteristics too seriously. It's certainly good enough to make again.

French Pear Tart

3-4 ea ripe pears -- peeled, cut into halves and sliced across, just before baking
Pastry ( pâte sucrée ):
6 oz all-purpose flour
3 oz unsalted butter -- softened
3 ea egg yolks
3 oz castor sugar
3-4 drops vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Frangipane:
6 oz ( 175g )ground almonds
6 oz ( 175g )unsalted butter, soft
5 oz caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons of all purpose flour
2 drops of almond extract
Glaze:
apricot jam
lemon juice

Pastry:
Sift the flour into your food processor then add all the other ingredients. Pulse until the pastry forms a ball. Wrap the pastry and place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Roll out and put into greased a flan dish (with loose bottom is best). The pastry will be quite delicate and inclined to break up, just press together again, it will not spoil the end result. Return pastry to refrigerator again for 20 minutes

Line pastry with grease-proof paper and fill with dried beans or pie weights. Blind bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove the baking beans and paper and bake for another 5-7 minutes until golden brown.

Frangipane:
Cream together butter and sugar. Add the eggs, ground almonds, sifted flour, and almond extract. Stir it all together. Spoon frangipane into pastry until not quite full. Place the sliced pears evenly on top and bake at 350F for 30 - 40 minutes. When cool, remove from baking dish and brush the glaze over the top.

Glaze:
Heat the jam gently on the stove until it melts. Add the lemon juice and mix in. Push through a sieve. Serves 8.

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