Pear And Mascarpone Tart With Brandy Caramel Sauce Food

PEAR TARTS WITH CARAMEL SAUCE

Steps:

• To make the almond cream: In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a wooden spoon, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, beat in well, and add the Amaretto. Stir in the ground almonds and flour until evenly mixed. The mixture should be the consistency of a thick paste.
• To make the caramel sauce: In a small sauce pan, combine the brown sugar, butter and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil vigorously for 2 minutes, remove from the heat. Cover and keep warm at the back of the stove.
• To make the tarts: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a 1/8 inch thickness and, using a plate or cardboard circle as a template, use a very sharp knife to cut four 7 inch circles. Spread a circle of almond cream in the center of each, leaving a 1inch border. Fan the sliced pears out from the center of each tart, completely covering the almond cream but still leaving the border. Beat the egg yolk lightly with a fork and brush the border of the pastry with it (try not to let any yolk dribble down onto the cut edges of the pastry, otherwise it will not rise as high). Bake the tarts for about 20 minutes, until the edges are golden and the pastry is baked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes Place a sprig of mint in the center of each tart and sprinkle it with a little confectioners sugar. Serve warm, drizzled with the warm caramel sauce.

PEAR CARAMEL TART

Steps:

• In a large non-stick skillet, melt butter and stir in sugar. As mixture begins to bubble, remove from heat and spread out pears. Return skillet to heat and cook over medium high until golden brown syrup bubbles up. This process will take about 30 minutes. Roll out crust to flatten folds and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Place crust over pears and press down around edges. Cut slits in crust and brush with egg. Bake for 30 minutes until crust is golden brown. Allow skillet to cool for 2 minutes. Loosen edges of crust with paring knife. Invert tart onto plate and cool.

BAKED PEARS ON SUGARED PUFF PASTRY WITH CARAMEL SAUCE

Steps:

• Make pastry bases:
• Preheat oven to 375°F. and lightly butter a heavy baking sheet.
• Sprinkle a work surface with granulated sugar and roll out puff pastry about 1/8 inch thick, turning once to coat both sides with sugar. Cut out 4 rectangles, each about 4 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches, and transfer to baking sheet, reserving scraps for another use. Prick pastry all over with a fork and put baking sheet in freezer until pastry is chilled well, about 15 minutes.
• Lightly butter bottom of another heavy baking sheet and put directly on top of pastry rectangles to weight them while baking. Bake pastry (between 2 baking sheets) in middle of oven 25 to 35 minutes, or until golden brown, and transfer to a rack to cool. Pastry bases may be made 1 day ahead and kept in an airtight container.
• Make pears and sauce:
• Preheat oven to 375°F. (if pastry bases have been made ahead) and lightly butter a small baking dish just large enough to hold 4 pear halves in one layer.
• Peel, halve, and core pears. Arrange pear halves in baking dish, cut sides up. Divide butter among pear cavities and sprinkle 1/4 cup granulated sugar over pears. Sprinkle lemon juice over pears and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Remove baking dish from oven and turn pears so that cut sides are down. Baste pears with cooking juices and return to oven. Bake pears until tender, about 15 minutes more. Transfer pears to a plate and keep warm.
• Transfer cooking juices to a small heavy saucepan. Add remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar and boil, swirling pan, until mixture turns a deep golden caramel. Slowly add cream (caramel will bubble up) and simmer sauce, whisking, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir poire William into caramel sauce.
• Sprinkle each pastry base with confectioners' sugar and top with a pear half. Serve baked pears with caramel sauce.

PEAR GALETTE WITH MASCARPONE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Combine ricotta cheese, mascarpone cheese, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Place in the refrigerator.
• Place pears, cornstarch, lemon juice, brown sugar, cloves, and cinnamon into a bowl; mix well.
• Place thawed puff pastry sheet into the bottom of an 11-inch tart pan. Spoon cheese mixture onto pastry and spread evenly. Arrange spiced pear mixture on top of the cheese mixture.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 45 minutes.

PEAR TARTE TATIN

Steps:

• Core the pears, then peel as neatly as possible and halve. If you like, they can be prepared up to a day ahead and kept in the fridge, uncovered, so that they dry out.
• Tip the sugar, butter, star anise, cardamom and cinnamon into an ovenproof frying pan, about 20cm wide, and place over a high heat until bubbling. Shake the pan and stir the buttery sauce until it separates and the sugar caramelises to a toffee colour.
• Lay the pears in the pan, then cook in the sauce for 10-12 mins, tossing occasionally, until completely caramelised. Don't worry about them burning - they won't - but you want to caramelise them as much as possible. Splash in the brandy and let it flambé, then set the pears aside.
• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Roll the pastry out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Using a plate slightly larger than the top of the pan, cut out a circle, then press the edges of the circle of pastry to thin them out.
• When the pears have cooled slightly, arrange them in the pan, cut side up, in a floral shape, with the pears around the edge pointing inwards. Rest the cinnamon stick on the top in the centre, with the cardamom pods scattered around.
• Drape the pastry over the pears, then tuck the edges down the pan sides and under the fruit (see Gordon's guide). Pierce the pastry a few times, then bake for 15 mins. If a lot of juice bubbles up the side of the pan, pour it off at this stage (see guide). Reduce oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and bake for 15 mins more until the pastry is golden. Leave the tart to stand for 10 mins, then invert it carefully onto a serving dish.

QUICK & EASY CARAMELIZED PEARS

Steps:

• In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high. Add pears, one cut side down, and cook until browned, then reduce heat to medium and cook 3 minutes. Turn pears to other cut side and cook 4 minutes. Add sugar and 1 tablespoon water, swirling pan to combine. Turn pears skin side down and cook until sauce is thickened slightly, 2 minutes. Stir in vanilla and pinch of salt. Serve warm with ice cream.