Pear Almond Honey Tart Food

PEAR-ALMOND-HONEY TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line an eight-inch tart pan with the pastry. Prick the pastry, cover it with foil and weight it down with beans or pastry weights. Bake until it takes on a parchment look, about eight minutes. Remove the foil and weights and bake until it is lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
• While the pastry is baking, grind half a cup of the almonds in a food processor. Remove them and set aside.
• Peel, core and quarter the pears. Puree two of them in a food processor (it is not necessary to clean the food processor from the almonds) with one tablespoon lemon juice and one tablespoon of the honey. Mix with the ground almonds and set aside.
• Cut the rest of the pears in eighths and toss with remaining lemon juice.
• When the pastry has baked sufficiently, spread the pear puree in the bottom of it. Arrange the pear eighths in a pattern on the pear puree and scatter the remaining sliced almonds over the top. Drizzle with a tablespoon of the honey and dot with butter.
• Bake about 35 minutes, until the almonds and pears begin to look toasty.
• Mix the yogurt with the remaining honey. Serve the tart while it is still warm with honeyed-yogurt on the side.

PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• In a mixing bowl cream butter with sugar until fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in egg. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Mix in brandy and vanilla. Add almond and all-purpose flours. Mix until creamy. Cover and refrigerate. Place almond filling into tart shell, spread level. Cut poached pear halves crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Reshape pear halves and arrange 8 halves around the top of each tart, "spoke" fashion. Press pears lightly to fan out. Bake for 40 minutes or until top is well browned and filling is springy to the touch. Cool and serve at room temperature.
• Note: To poach pears, peel, core and halve pears, place in a pot with 1 3/4 cups white wine, 3/4 cup water, 4 ounces of sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, vanilla bean split, and 4 black pepper corns. Bring to a boil and lower heat to a simmer, cook for 30 minutes or until pears are tender when pricked. Cool in liquid.
• In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt, cut in butter until it resembles small pebbles. With a mixer running add vanilla and slowly drizzle in water until dough comes together in a sticky mass. Roll into a ball, wrap and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours before rolling. Roll shell to fit into a 9-inch tart pan. Set aside.;

PEAR AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• For pears:
• Bring 4 cups water, sugar, and lemon juice to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add pears. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until pears are very tender, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool pears in syrup. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
• For crust:
• Blend powdered sugar, almonds, and salt in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter and blend until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Mix in egg yolk. Add flour. Using on/off turns, blend until dough comes together in clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
• For almond filling:
• Finely grind almonds and flour in processor. Mix in 7 tablespoons sugar, then butter, blending until smooth. Mix in egg. Transfer filling to medium bowl. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.)
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork. Freeze crust 10 minutes.
• Line crust with buttered foil, buttered side down, then fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake crust until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake crust until sides are golden and bottom is set, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 10 minutes longer. Cool crust in pan on rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
• Spread almond filling evenly in crust. Stem pears and cut each in half lengthwise; scoop out cores. Cut each half crosswise into thin slices. Gently press each pear half to fan slices but keep slices tightly overlapped. Slide spatula under pears and arrange atop filling like spokes of wheel with narrow ends in center.
• Bake tart until golden and tester inserted into center of filling comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool tart in pan on rack. Push pan bottom up, releasing tart from pan. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) Cut tart into wedges; sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve.

ALMOND PEAR TART

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10-in. circle. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. , In a large bowl, combine 3/4 cup sugar and flour; add pears and toss to coat. Spoon over the crust to within 2 in. of edges. Fold up edges of crust over filling, leaving center uncovered. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. , Bake at 450° for 15 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. Sprinkle with almonds; bake 5 minutes longer. Using the parchment, slide tart onto a wire rack to cool.