Caramelized Pear And Roquefort Tart Recipes

PEAR AND ROQUEFORT TART

Steps:

• To make the pastry, put the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl, then add the chilled butter and rub in, using your fingers, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the egg yolk, then gradually add just enough chilled water to bring the mixture together into a firm dough - don't add too much water or the dough may become sticky. (Alternatively, whizz the flour, salt and butter in a food processor until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the egg yolk and the water. Pulse to bring the dough together.)
• Roll out the dough into a circle on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin, then loosely roll the pastry around the rolling pin. Unroll it over a lightly greased 23cm fluted tart tin with a removable base, then gently push the pastry into the tin using a little ball of floured pastry to help you ease it into the tin's edges and flutes. Roll the rolling pin over the top to trim the edges. Prick the base all over with a fork, line the case with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Chill for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Blind bake (see our how to video below) the pastry case for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for 10 minutes more until the pastry begins to turn golden. Remove from the oven, brush the pastry with beaten egg yolk (see tips), then return to the oven for 5 minutes.
• Arrange the pears in neat circles to cover the base of the case. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the pears begin to soften. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the lardons until golden, then set aside. Turn down the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4.
• Put the mascarpone in a bowl and stir briefly to soften, then add the beaten eggs and milk. Stir until smooth and combined. Season with a little salt and lots of black pepper (the bacon and roquefort are salty), then stir in the chopped thyme.
• Scatter the cooked lardons and the roquefort over the softened pears, then pour over the mascarpone mix. Sprinkle over some small thyme sprigs and bake for 25 minutes or until the filling is set and golden. Once cooked, leave to cool in its tin before removing.
• Serve at room temperature with lightly dressed salad leaves.

CARAMELIZED PEAR AND ROQUEFORT TART

Steps:

• To make the crust, put the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until ground. Add the flour, sugar and salt and pulse just to combine. Add the butter and pulse until most of the butter is incorporated into the flour. Add the yolk mixture and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic. Chill.
• To make the filling, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the pears to the skillet and saute until browned on both sides, about 8 minutes. Remove the pears from the skillet and repeat with the remaining pears. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough between large sheets of plastic wrap and fit it into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Cover with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and weights and bake the crust until it is golden, about 7 minutes more.
• Arrange the pear halves in a circle over the dough, core side down and wider end toward the edge of the pan. Fill in the center with more pears. Crumble the cheese over and around the pears.
• Whisk together the half-and- half, sugar, egg yolks and flour. Pour over the pears. Bake until the custard is set, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, simmer the port in a small saucepan until it is reduced to a syrup. While the tart is still warm and just before serving, brush the port over the pears. Cut into wedges and serve.

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.

CARAMELIZED PEAR TART

Steps:

• In a sauté pan on medium, melt unsalted butter; stir in 2 Tablespoons of the sugar.
• Simmer, stirring occasionally, until butter and sugar begin to turn golden brown and caramelize.
• Add pear slices and cook slowly over low heat to tenderize and caramelize, stirring gently occasionally. Watch carefully to prevent burning.
• Arrange caramelized pears in short crust pie shell.
• Mix together eggs with the remaining sugar, cream, ground almonds and pear brandy, if using.
• Pour mixture over pears.
• Preheat oven to 410 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degree Celsius) .
• Bake for about 25 minutes.
• Rest for three to five minutes before serving.
• Serve with rich custard or vanilla ice cream.

CARAMELIZED PEAR TARTS WITH CARDAMOM CREAM

Steps:

• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
• Roll out pastry into a 12-inch square on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Brush off excess flour and cut out 4 (5-inch) rounds by tracing around an inverted plate or bowl with tip of a small sharp knife. Prick pastry rounds all over with a fork and transfer to baking sheet. Bake until rounds are puffed and golden, 12 to 15 minutes, then cool on baking sheet on a rack.
• While pastry bakes, toss pear halves with lemon juice in a bowl. Cook 1/2 cup granulated sugar and a pinch of salt in a dry 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, swirling skillet (to help sugar melt evenly), until caramel is deep golden, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter with a wooden spoon (mixture will bubble vigorously). When bubbling begins to subside, immediately add pear halves, cut sides down, and cook over moderately low heat, covered, turning over once, until pears are tender when pierced with a small sharp knife, about 13 minutes total. Remove from heat.
• Beat cream, cardamom, and remaining tablespoon granulated sugar in a bowl with a whisk or an electric mixer until it just holds soft peaks.
• Put each pastry round on a small plate and dust lightly with confectioners sugar if desired. Spoon some of caramel sauce onto center of each round and top with a pear half, cut side down. Serve with cardamom cream on the side.

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.

CARAMELIZED PEAR TART WITH CORNMEAL CRUST

Steps:

• Make dough:
• In a bowl whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt. Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add to flour mixture. With your fingertips or a pastry blender blend in butter until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with remainder in small (roughly pea-size) lumps. Drizzle 4 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork until incorporated. Test mixture by gently squeezing a small handful: When it has proper texture it should hold together without crumbling apart. If necessary, add enough remaining water, 1 teaspoon at a time, stirring until incorporated and testing, to give mixture proper texture. (If you overwork mixture or add too much water, pastry will be tough.)
• Turn mixture out onto a work surface and divide into 4 portions. With heel of hand smear each portion once in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together and form it, rotating it on work surface, into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour, and up to 1 day.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Make caramelized pears:
• Peel pears and halve lengthwise. Cut each half into 3 wedges and core. In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet melt butter over moderate heat and stir in sugar. Cook mixture, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved and mixture is golden, about 6 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and let mixture stand until it begins to firm up, about 3 minutes. Arrange pears, rounded sides down, as close together as possible in 2 concentric circles in skillet.
• On a lightly floured surface roll out dough into a 15-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) and cut out an 11-inch round. Drape round over pears, tucking edge around pears, and with a fork prick dough in several places. Bake tart in middle of oven until pastry is golden and cooked through, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool tart in skillet on a rack 15 minutes.
• Invert a rimmed serving plate slightly larger than skillet over skillet and, wearing oven mitts and keeping plate firmly pressed against skillet, invert tart onto plate. Arrange any loose pears on tart and spoon sauce from plate onto tart. Serve tart warm or at room temperature.

STICKY PEAR TARTS WITH ROQUEFORT CREAM

Steps:

• Unravel the pastry and cut out two 15cm diameter circles using a saucer or small plate as a guide. Put them on a tray and prick all over with a fork. Peel, core and halve the pears lengthways. Finely slice each half and arrange in a neat overlapping circle in the middle of the pastry, leaving a 2cm border. Roll up and crimp the edges of the pastry to tuck the pears neatly into the tart. Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and kept in the fridge; if the pears brown a little, it won't show.
• To make the cream, whisk the cream and honey together to form soft peaks, add the cheese and continue to whisk. Scrape into a small container and chill until needed. Can be made 1 day ahead.
• Put a baking tray in the oven and heat to 200C/180C/gas 6. For the glaze, put the sugar in a pan over a medium heat until it melts and caramelises. Pour this over the pears, then put the tarts on the hot baking tray and cook for 15 mins until they're puffed up and golden. Lift the tarts onto warmed plates and serve with a spoonful of the Roquefort cream so it melts on top.

PEAR AND CHOCOLATE TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Roll pastry out to 1/4 inch thickness and use it to line a 9-inch tart dish. Prick the pastry with a fork and then place into the freezer for 20 minutes to prevent pastry from rising during baking.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Set crust aside. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Heat a saucepan about 1/3-full of water to a low simmer, about 5 minutes, then reduce heat to lowest setting. Place a heat-proof bowl over the pan in such a way that it does not touch the water. Add chocolate to the bowl and allow to melt. Limit stirring to an absolute minimum to prevent chocolate from separating.
• Mix ground almonds, eggs, sugar, and butter together in a bowl. Add warm melted chocolate and stir to combine. Pour chocolate mixture into the baked pastry crust.
• Arrange pears on top of the tart by pressing them into the chocolate mixture.
• Bake in the hot oven until pastry is golden and mixture is firm, 35 to 45 minutes.

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.