I can’t believe how slack I have been at this blogging thing – honestly, I have to get some kind of system going. Maybe I need to set aside a morning a week or something or otherwise it just doesn’t get done! Anyhow, back to it… today: a gorgeous recipe for Spanish Pear Tart with Pedro Ximenez Syrup.
Last year my Mum got my husband Paul a subscription to Delicious magazine and it was such a great idea! He loves to cook and he is really good at it too. As soon as the new issue arrives each month in the mail, Paul sits down and pores over it for hours, salivating, and then cooks me amazingly wonderful things to eat. So great – thanks Mum! :)
The cover image is always amazing (the whole magazine is full of good stuff) and we were recently treated to the Spanish Pear Tart with Pedro Ximenez Syrup, from the June 2010 issue. I tell you, this is the yummiest dessert in the world. It has a gorgeous Marscapone filling and crumbly almond pastry, amazing tasting pears and then it is topped with a simply lovely syrup. Paul decided to make one larger tart instead of the individual little ones, because we didn’t have six cute little loose-bottomed tart pans.
I found a variation of this recipe on Eat Well. Eat Green. but here is the recipe as it appeared in the magazine:
Spanish Pear Tart with Pedro Ximenez Syrup
- 1 1/3 cups (200 g) plain flour
- 100 g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
- 1/3 cup (30 g) almond meal
- 1 tsp ground aniseed *optional
- 1/2 cup (75 g) icing sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (250 g) mascarpone cheese
- 1/4 cup (70 g) thick Greek-style
- melted chocolate, to drizzle *optional
Pedro Ximinez Pears
- 6 small pears (such as corella)
- 1 lemon
- 150 g caster sugar
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
- 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) Pedro Ximinez sherry (a sweet Spanish sherry)
Peel, halve and core pears, leaving stems intact. Pare 2 strips of rind from lemon and set aside, then halve lemon and rub over the pears to keep them from browning. Place sugar, rind, cinnamon, vanilla pod and seeds in a pan with 1 1/4 cups (310 mL) water. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves. Add sherry and pears, then cover surface closely with baking paper cut to size. Increase heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes (depending on ripeness of pears) until pears are tender. Chill pears in the liquid overnight.
The next day, place flour, butter, almond meal, aniseed and 2 tbs icing sugar in a food processor with 1/2 tsp salt. Process until mixtures resembles breadcrumbs. Add egg and vanilla and proces suntil it comes together in a smooth ball. Wrap pastry in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Grease six 10cm loose-bottomed tart pans. Divide dough into 6 pieces, roll out to 3mm thick, then line the pans with dough. Chill for a further 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 180 C. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice, then blind-bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and weights (or rice) and cook for a further 3 – 5 minutes until pastry is crisp and golden. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, remove pears from syrup and transfer syrup to a saucepan. Bring to the boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for 15 – 20 minutes until thick and syrupy. Cool. Slice each pear lengthways almost to the top, leaving the stem-end intact.
Combine mascarpone, yoghurt and remaining 1/3 cup (50 g) icing sugar, then spread into tart cases. Place 2 pear halves on top, fanning out slices, then brush with the reduced syrup just before serving. (Brush? We poured it on!) If desired, drizzle plates with chocolate.
The cook enjoying his creation.
Bonus: I just found a great blog where each month, Katren makes at least one recipe from her collection of 8 years’ worth of Delicious back issues. I’ll have to get Paul onto that. Whenever I see old Delicious mags at the op shop or second hand book shops, I grab them. It’s a gift for him, but really it’s a gift for me because I get to eat his cooking!
