Pear-Frangipane Tart
— Makes a 10-inch tart with a double ring of pear slices
Juicy wine-poached pears bedded in chewy almond frangipane, surrounded by a rich, crisp tart shell. A perfect tart for Autumn, even more perfect when accompanied with a glass of chilled Muscat.
The tart can be made in stages: the pears can be poached and the frangipane filling made up to 3 days ahead of baking; the pâte sucrée can be made up to 2 days before baking. The tart is best served the day it’s baked.
Poached Pears
*Items marked in green are available from Gourmet Corner.
In a large saucepan, bring everything but pears to a simmer (before putting the vanilla bean in, scrape the tiny seeds out of it into the poaching liquid so they distribute evenly ). Stir a few times, to ensure the sugar is completely dissolved.
Peel and halve pears, remove core and scoop out seeds
Slide pears into wine (try to get them all covered), raise heat to bring liquid to a simmer, then set to medium-low.
Poach pears 5 minutes on one side, then gently turn over with a large spoon and poach another 5 minutes or until outside edges just begin to become translucent.
Remove pan from heat, cover, and allow pears to stand until cool, at least 1 hour. Can be refrigerated for up to 3 days at this point. If refrigerating, remove the whole spices — they will make dark spots on the pears.
Frangipane Filling
Add all filling ingredients to food processor, process until completely smooth. Scrape sides and bottom of processor with spatula, then process again.
Can be refrigerated for up to 3 days at this point.
Pâte Sucrée
Whisk egg yolk and cream together.
Combine dry ingredients in a food processor until completely blended.
Sprinkle butter slices over dry mixture and process until it looks like coarse meal, ~ 20 sec.
Pour egg mix over flour mixture and process just until it forms a dough. Pat into a flat 6″ disc, place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate for 1 hour or more (can stay refrigerated for up to 2 days).
To bake tart shell, heat oven to 375 °F. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to warm until malleable. Roll on a floured surface to ~14” in diameter. Roll around rolling pin and transfer into a 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom (keep tart pan on a cookie sheet to avoid accidentally pushing up the bottom). Gently ease the dough into the pan it’s smooth, patching if needed. Trim the top edge flush with the rim of the pan.
Gently smooth a sheet of aluminum foil into the tart shell, then fill it with dry beans or pie weights. Bake, on the cookie sheet, until dry and pale gold, ~20 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes, then use foil to remove beans/weights from crust. Allow to cool completely, ~30 minutes.
Assemble and Bake Tart
Heat oven to 350 °F
Remove pears from poaching liquid. Slice each pear half into approx six even wedges — you want the slices no thicker than ½ inch at the widest.
Gently spread frangipane over tart shell in an even layer.
Carefully make a radial circle of overlapping pear slices around the outside edge of the tart, small ends pointing to the middle (note: save the shorter slices for the inside ring). Try to get them evenly spaced, each slice lying on its side, thicker side slightly overlapping the thinner side of the slice below. This takes patience and a certain amount of gingerly sliding the tip of a small knife under the slices to adjust their position. (Yes, trust me, you want the acclaim and gorgeous presentation that come with nudging sticky pear slices around on top of the frangipane for a half-hour. It’s worth it.)
Once the outer ring of slices is positioned, make a second ring, points slightly overlapping in the middle and the outer edges overlapping as in the first circle. Save 2-3 of the smallest slices for the center.
Trim two of the smallest slices down to ~2 inches long, then place in the center of the tart, thin edges slightly overlapping in the center. If going for all-out kudos, trim a third slice down to ~1.5 inches long and slice away the thin edge until the slice is 1/2 inch tall then stand it up it carefully between the two center slices.
Once the pears are all positioned, you may find you have extra slices. You can either gently ease them into the rosette pattern, or just eat them. If any pears have gotten frangipane on them, you can gently remove it with a bit of paper towel, if going for Olympic presentation points.
Put strips of foil around the crust to keep it from over-browning.
Bake for 45 minutes or until filling is browned, rotating the tart halfway through the cooking.
Cool before attempting to remove the tart pan or slice. Best served the day it’s made.
GLAZE
(Optional, but adds a certain extra touch of bling)
¼ cup apple jelly (who the heck has that?) or white corn syrup
Right before serving tart, in a small bowl, microwave jelly or syrup until thin and glossy—30 seconds on Medium will probably do it, depending on your microwave.
Use a pastry brush to gently brush a thin coat of melted jelly/syrup over the pears. Serve immediately. When slicing, use a serrated blade and a gentle sawing motion to avoid disarraying the pear slices.
