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dessert - pear, apple, tartin

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These recipes are for your personal use only and may not be added in any form to archives or other works.

Pear and Apple Tartin with Rosemary and Cinnamon

Herbs are wonderful in delicately flavoured desserts such as this one. This is an easy dessert using a shallow dish such as a quiche or pie dish to bake it in. It is inverted onto a serving plate and served warm. To intensify the flavour you can use rosemary sugar, or replace with lavender sugar made yourself or from the gourmet shop. See note below for making flavoured sugars for tea or desserts. The pastry can be made in advance and kept wrapped in a cool place for a few hours - it does not have to be refrigerated unless making this in warm weather. If you prefer, you can add the rosemary to the pastry instead of the pears.

Serves 6 to 8

preheat oven to 220° C.

Pastry:

200 g. all purpose flour

100 g. firm (but not hard) unsalted butter, cut into sm. pieces

1 T. sugar

a good pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

+- 3 T. cold water

(or use 300 g. of purchased pastry brisee, or sweet pie pastry)

Filling:

3-4 firm baking pears such as Bartlett

1 lg. baking apple

1/4 rounded t. ground cinnamon

3/4 t. finely minced fresh rosemary (or lavender flowers) *

4 T. rosemary (or lavender) sugar plus

1 T. rosemary (or lavender) for the top

+- 2 t. butter cut into small bits

apple or pear liquor (or even a good cognac)

a little lemon juice

Butter a 22 cm. quiche or pie dish well and set aside.

Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl. Mix the water with the yolk. Make a wide well in the center of the flour and place the butter, sugar, egg yolk. With your fingers, work quickly into a dough (work the center ingredients until rather emulsified and keep gathering in the flour as you go). Knead for about 2 minutes. Alternatively, pulse for a few seconds all the dry ingredients with the butter together until all appears like a coarse crumble. Place into a bowl. Mix the egg with the water and work into the dough. Knead no more than 2 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap and allow to rest at least 15 minutes.

Peel and core the apple. Dice and place in a bowl with 2 T. sugar, a little lemon juice and the cinnamon. Toss well and set aside.

Peel the pears, core and slice lengthways into half centimeter slices. Toss with 2 T. sugar, the rosemary and the pear or apple liquor. Allow the fruit to steep at least about 20 minutes before proceeding (the fruit can thus be prepared a few hours in advance as well - even better.

Starting from the outer edge, lay the larger pear slices in a circle, overlapping the slices. Fill in the center with the smaller pieces and distribute what is left of them. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of the pear or apple liquor. Spread the apple filling evenly and dot with the remaining 2 teaspoons of butter.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface about 2 cm. larger than the pan. Quickly lay the pastry over the pan and fold the over hanging pastry inside the pan, pressing gently against the edge of the pan. You are making an inverted crust. Prick the crust with the point of a knife in several places.

Bake in the middle until the crust is a golden colour and the juices are bubbling - about 30-35 minutes (when the crust appears a little tan, I like to place the tarte on the lower rack of the oven for the rest of the time).

Allow to rest about 10 minutes. Place a large plate over the dish and invert quickly. Remove the dish, reposition fruit that may have stuck to the pan, sprinkle lightly with another tablespoon of sugar and serve immediately. Garnish, if you have them with a sprinkling of rosemary or lavender flowers.

Tip: offer your guests thin slices of Roquefort cheese for a delicious taste contrast!

Note: flavoured sugars are wonderful for your tea, desserts or sprinkled over fruit and also make thoughtful gifts.. You will need a glass container with an airtight lid. Pour in a few centimeters of fine sugar, then a thick layer of lavender flowers, rosemary flowers or coarsely chopped rosemary. Repeat with another layer of sugar then the flowers and continue until full or you run out of herb. End with a layer of sugar. Try to have at least 4 layers of herb. Allow to rest at least a month. Sugar keeps indefinitely. To use, use a coarse sieve if you like. USE ONLY ORGANIC HERBS, or those you know were never sprayed with chemicals. Do not use lavender or herbs intended for potpourri as these may have been treated with perfume.

*Note to rosemary: you can use dried, but not the powdered. Finely mince the whole dried rosemary, use only 1/4 teaspoon or so. Soak in a little of the liquor to soften for at least 20 minutes, then add to the pears. When using either the dried or the fresh, be sure to rub between the palms of your hands as you add the herb to help release its flavour. Neither the rosemary nor the cinnamon in this dish is dominant, but supporting the delicate flavour of the fruit in the background. It is worth having a rosemary plant even potted for many dishes!

Tip: if you have no flavoured sugars, chop the fresh rosemary, add to the 2 T. sugar for the pears and using thumb and fingers rub it into the sugar well. When you begin to smell the aroma, the rosemary is imparting its scent to the sugar. Add to the pears as in above. Using cognac instead of the liquor and replacing half the sugar with brown sugar and increasing the rosemary to 1-1/2 t. makes for a robust and interesting dessert. Another version is to add the rosemary to the dry pastry ingredients (instead of the filling) and mixing well before continuing.

All recipes are excerpts from "Welcome to My Kitchen" - The Epicurean Table and are copyright of the author. Recipes are not to be

added to any form of archive or other works of any kind. Contact the author for further information.