Pastry is not my friend. Previous attempts range from okay to inedible. But with a foolproof (ha!) recipe from an Angela Boggiano book and plenty of time to analyse every instruction I turned out a very nice sweet shortcrust pastry case. My very good friend Marion had recently inherited a bag of windfall pears and kindly passed them on...most are destined for chutney but yesterday I sacrificed some to the tart. I won't give the pastry recipe as there are plenty of good ones out there and acceptable shop bought versions - here is how I made the tart though...
- Blind bake the pastry case if home made for 12-15 mins until very slightly golden then cool and egg wash the base and sides
- Meanwhile peel and quarter 2 small pears and poach in a stock syrup for around 10 mins or until soft but not mushy (a simple stock syrup is a half sugar/water ratio dissolved over a gentle heat - you can add a vanilla pod, cinammon stick etc)
- Remove the pears and cool them. Take each quarter, start 1cm down from the top and cut 3 or 4 slices lengthways to the bottom, push gently into a fan shape
- For the frangipane-esque filling: 125g of soft butter is beaten until pale and smooth then add the following: 200g ground almonds, 75g caster sugar, 1 egg, and a generous tbsp of amaretto if you have it, or almond essence if not! Finally add the zest and juice of half a lemon and beat it all to a pulp.
- Cover the bottom of the pastry case with a thin layer of jam (I had pear and ginger) then spread on the frangipane mix. Arrange the pears on the top, pushing down slightly into the mix.
- Bake for around 30 mins at Gas 4 or until the top seems spongy when pressed.
We had a big slice still slightly warm with a dollop of cream!
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