Bartlett Pear Tart Food

EASY PEAR TART OR GALETTE RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients. Preheat oven to 350 F.
• Line a 10-inch tart pan or pie with your favorite homemade or store-bought pie or tart crust. As you lay the crust into the pan, hold it up and let it drop and settle into any edges or corners, rather than pushing it in, to minimize shrinking and breaking when you bake the tart. Set aside. Alternatively, you can lay the rolled-out crust on a baking sheet for a free-form tart, often called a galette. Lightly prick the crust all over with a fork. Set aside.
• Cut the pears in half or quarters. Cut out and discard the core in each piece. Peel the pear pieces and cut them into even slices. Even slicing will lead to the prettiest and most evenly cooked tart.
• In a large bowl toss the pear slices with 1/3 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice . Arrange the pear slices on the crust-you can just dump them in and spread them out for a very rustic dessert, or arrange them in neat rows or concentric circles for a more elegant presentation. Reserve 4 or 5 slices of pear. Crimp the edges of the crust (see how to crimp a pie crust here if you've never done it before), or roll them up a bit to create an edge if you've decided to go free-form.
• Bake the tart until the crust is brown on the edges and pears are tender, about 50 minutes.
• While the tart bakes, bring the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, reserved pear slices, and 1/3 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook, undisturbed, until the syrup thickens, about 10 minutes. Set it aside.
• While tart cools, brush it generously with the syrup. Serve the tart warm or at room temperature.

RUSTIC PEAR TART

Steps:

• To prepare the crust, in a medium bowl whisk together the whole-wheat pastry flour, all- purpose flour, granulated sugar and salt. Add the butter and using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until you get a pebbly, course texture. In a small bowl combine the buttermilk and ice water. Using a fork, gradually mix the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture. Pat the dough into a 4-inch round and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F, and prepare the filling. Peel the pears, core them and cut into 1/4-inch slices. In a large bowl toss the pear slices with the lemon juice. Sprinkle in the cornstarch, brown sugar and cinnamon and toss until the pears are evenly coated. Set aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a large circle about nine inches in diameter. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and draping the dough over the rolling pin, transfer to the prepared baking sheet. If the dough breaks at all patch it up with your fingers.
• Arrange the pears in a mound in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold the border over the filling. It will only cover the pears partially and does not need to be even.
• Bake the tart for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, keeping the tart in the oven all the while, and bake for another 40 minutes, until the pears are tender and the crust is golden brown.
• In a small bowl stir together the honey and boiling water to make a glaze. When the tart is done remove it from the oven and brush the honey glaze all over the top of the fruit and crust. Transfer to a plate to cool slightly. Cut into 6 wedges and serve warm or a room temperature.

BARTLETT PEAR TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425. Using your favorite pastry recipe for 9 inch pie or one that has been commercially prepared, line a 10 inch tart pan with pie crust, molding to sides of pan. Prick bottom and sides with a fork and bake in preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes.
• Prepare poached pears: Place pears, wine, sugar, and cloves in a large skillet. Bring to boil, then simmer pears uncovered until they are crisp - tender. Depending on the ripeness of your pears, this can take 10 - 15 minutes, or even up to 45 minutes. Remove the pears with a slotted spoon and continue to reduce the poaching liquid to 1/3 cup, creating a thick syrup. Discard the cloves. Bosc pears would probably work nicely, too. But the D'Anjou pear supposedly is not the best pear to cook with, even though it is delicious on its own.
• Prepare custard: Simmer Half & Half in a small sauce pan. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks, flour, and brown sugar until smooth. Temper the egg yolk mixture by pouring some of the simmering Half & Half into it, then whisk mixture back into simmering cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to simmer and continue stirring constantly until custard is thick and smooth, a few minutes more. Pour hot custard into a clean bowl, and whisk in the almond extract, butter, and the syrup that was created from the reduced poaching liquid.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spread the custard evenly in the partially baked crust. Using a large kitchen knife, slice pear halves thinly, about 1/8 inch, and carefully fan out, keeping shape of pear intact. Using the knife, scoop fanned-out pear half up and gently slide onto custard, keeping the shape intact. (Chef Sarah uses a method of slicing the pear half ALMOST to the bottom, but leaving it intact, transferring it to the custard and then fanning the pear out. But this didn't work for me.) Repeat until the crust is filled with thinly sliced pears. If your pears are smaller, you will need to place a pear half in the center.
• Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until custard is set and lightly browned.
• Melt a pat of butter in a small skillet and toast sliced almonds lightly. Brush the warm tart with the melted apricot preserves to glaze, then sprinkle with toasted almonds. In the original recipe, the tart is topped with toasted chopped hazelnuts -- probably a better choice if using the hazelnut crust. Serve tart warm or at room temperature, topped with whipped cream.
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• If you would like to prepare the hazelnut crust used in the original recipe: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine 1 cup of lightly toasted and skinned hazelnuts, 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 1/4 cups of four, 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and pinch of salt in a food processor and mix thoroughly. Add 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter and 1 large egg yolk and process until the dough forms a ball. Press the dough over the bottom and up side of fluted tart pan. Place shell in freezer for 15 minutes. Prick the chilled tart shell on the bottom with a fork in several places. Bake 12 - 15 minutes until just lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside to cool. Proceed with recipe as above. If using the hazelnut crust, then top finished glazed tart with additional chopped hazelnuts.

BARTLETT PEAR PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Press pie crust pastry into a 9-inch pie dish and refrigerate while preparing filling.
• Beat butter, white sugar, brown sugar, flour, nutmeg, allspice, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl using an electric mixer until smooth. Beat eggs, 1 at a time, into butter mixture until incorporated; fold in pears. Pour filling into chilled crust.
• Bake in the preheated oven until filling is set in the middle, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely before serving, about 1 hour.

PEAR TART WITH DULCE DE LECHE DRIZZLE

Steps:

• Dulce de leche and dough
• If making the dulce de leche, place unopened can of condensed milk on its side in a large pot; pour in room-temperature water to cover by at least 2". Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low, partially cover, and simmer, adding water as needed to maintain water level, 3 hours. Let cool in pot in water, 40-60 minutes. Remove can from pot and chill 12 hours before opening.
• Combine granulated sugar, salt, and 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose flour in a large wide bowl. Add butter and toss until generously coated. Using your fingers smash butter into thin disks, tossing with flour as you go. Work until all the butter has been smashed and coated (irregular pieces of butter produce a flakier crust). Sprinkle vinegar and 1 Tbsp. ice water over and toss with a wooden spoon until just combined (the spoon prevents the butter from warming too quickly). Add another 3 Tbsp. ice water a tablespoonful at a time, stirring after each addition until water is absorbed. Using your hands , continue to work in water by the tablespoonful just until mixture holds together when squeezed in your hand, 2-4 Tbsp. more.
• Turn mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead until a dough forms (be careful not to overwork). If dough is too dry, sprinkle with a few drops of water; if too sticky, work in a little more flour. Roll dough to about an 8x5" rectangle, then fold in half crosswise. Roll back out to an 8x5" rectangle, dusting surface as needed, and fold again. Repeat rolling out and folding 2 more times. Divide dough in half. Tightly wrap each half in plastic or parchment paper and gently form into 1"-thick disks (you'll only need 1 for the tart). Chill at least 1 hour.
• Do ahead: Unopened dulce de leche can be made 3 months ahead; keep chilled. Opened dulce de leche can be made 3 weeks ahead; transfer to an airtight container and chill. Dough can be made 3 days ahead; keep chilled, or freeze up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature 1-2 hours or in the fridge overnight before using.
• Filling and assembly
• Place a rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 375°. Let a disk of dough sit 5 minutes at room temperature. Line a 9" or 10"-diameter tart pan with parchment paper, leaving some overhang. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, rotating often and dusting as needed to prevent sticking, to ¼" thick. Fold dough in half and transfer to prepared pan . Unfold and lift edges so dough slumps down into corners. Gently press dough into pan with the back of your index finger. Trim pastry with kitchen shears or a paring knife to a 1" border. Fold excess over into pan and press double layer into sides of pan. Prick bottom of tart a few times with a fork. Chill while you prepare the filling. For a decorative crust like in the photo, see chef's note at the end of the recipe.
• Pour lemon juice onto a large rimmed plate or into a shallow bowl. Working one at a time, hold stem of each pear and cut vertically into 4 pieces, working your way around the core; discard core. Set pieces cut side down and slice lengthwise ¼" thick, keeping slices in groups. Place in lemon juice to prevent cuts sides from browning.
• Combine granulated sugar, flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, and ½ tsp. salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle mixture evenly over dough and dot all over with frozen butter. Fan each group of pears in crust in alternating directions.
• Whisk egg, a pinch of salt, and 1 Tbsp. water in a small bowl to combine. Brush edges of pastry with egg wash and sprinkle 2-3 Tbsp. raw sugar in an even layer over pears and crust. Place tart on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling slightly, about 1 hour. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Remove tart from pan by lifting parchment and transfer to a cutting board or large plate.
• To serve, cut tart into slices and transfer to plates. Open dulce de leche and drizzle some over each slice if desired.
• Do ahead: Tart can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature, or cover and chill up to 4 days.
• Chef's note: For a decorative crust, roll out dough scraps to ⅛"-¼" thick on a lightly floured surface and chill 5 minutes. Generously flour surface and pastry and cut into decorative shapes with pie cutters or small cookie cutters. Gently press around edges of tart as desired. Brush tops of cutouts with egg wash to help them stick and freeze tart 1 hour (cutouts will keep their shape best during baking if they are frozen solid) then continue to fill and bake as instructed. If cutouts brown too much before tart is done, cover individually with small pieces of foil.

CARAMELIZED PEAR TART

Steps:

• Lightly grease a 9-inch tart pan with removeable sides.
• In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt and pulse briefly to mix.
• Add the shortening and cut it into the flour mixture using quick on/off pulses until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the egg and the vanilla and process just until moist clumps form, pulsing the processor on and off.
• Gather the dough into a ball and using your fingertips, press evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the preapred tart pan. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Halve each pear lengthwise and scoop out the core with a melon baller or spoon. Peel and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. There should be about 5 cups.
• Melt the butter over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet and stir in the brown sugar. When the sugar has dissolved and is bubbly, add the pears to the skillet sprinkling them with lemon juice and let the pears cook in the sugar syrup, stirring gently so as not to break up the slices. The pears will, at first, release quite a bit of juice - allow this to simmer until the liquid reduces to a thick syrup and the pears have begun to caramelize. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 425°F Gently spoon the pears into the prepared tart shell, spreading them out evenly. Sprnikle with the sliced almonds. Bake for 25 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking for 25-30 minutes, until the almonds are toasted and pear filling is bubbly.
• Let cool before removing the sides of the tart pan to serve.

PEAR TART

Steps:

• Combine walnuts and dates in food processor. Make sure you remove pits if dates have them and cut off end where stem was. Process until well mixed and ground, but not smooth. About 40 seconds. It should be a coarse texture when done. Press evenly into a 9 inch tart pan. Set in refrigerator while making the filling.
• Squeeze the juice out of the lemon and combine with water in a bowl.
• Slice pears by cutting into quarters. Cut out core and slice crosswise in 1/4 inch thick slices. Put into lemon water while you finish cutting pears. Drain well in colander when done.
• Place pears in a large skillet with rest of the ingredients (excluding almonds) and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently on medium heat.
• Remove pears with a slotted spoon from hot pan to a bowl and cool completely.
• Add in almonds and then reduce liquid to about half the volume and cool separately.
• Spread pears evenly over crust. Brush syrup over pears.
• Can be served right away or will keep in refrigerator until needed. Keep tart covered in refrigerator so it doesn't pick up moisture. Top with a little vanilla yogurt if desired.