Julia Child recipes include something for every occasion but one of the best Julia Child recipes is a Christmas tradition. This Pear Tart is a Julia Child recipe from her book “Mastering The Art of French Cooking.”
For the Frangipane:
1/2 cup almonds
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup whole milk
3 tabs butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast almonds until golden brown (about 10 minutes), then sprayed on a bender, food processor or with a mortar.
Whisk eggs and egg yolks in a large bowl until blended. Gradually add sugar and beat until mixture is pale yellow – about 3 minutes. Beat in the flour.
Heat the milk on the stove over medium heat until it reaches the boiling point. Beat a small amount of milk into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Pour the remaining milk and whisk vigorously.
Pour the milk into a saucepan and heat over medium heat. Stir slowly until the mixture begins to thicken and coagulate into a hard cover. Beat vigorously over low heat for 2-3 minutes to cook flour. Off the heat add the butter, vanilla and almond extract and almonds. Let cool. To prevent the formation of a skin cream covered with buttered parchment paper.
For the crust of sugar:
1 1/3 cups flour
7 tbs sugar
1/8 tsp baking powder
5 tbs butter, chilled
2 tbs shortening, chilled
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Whisk together flour, sugar, and baking powder. With a pastry cutter, fork or food processor, cut butter and lard into flour mixture until it resembles small oatmeal. Blend in egg and vanilla until dough forms a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
On a floured work surface, roll dough to 1 / 8 inch thick. Transfer dough to a false bottom tart pan, pressing dough into corners of pan with fingers. Trim excess dough with a knife or kitchen scissors, leaving a surplus of 1 / 2 inch. Double cantilevered over the press and on the edges of the cake.
Line the tart with foil, buttered, and place cooked rice, dried beans, or weight standing on top of foil. Bake for 8-9 minutes, until pastry is set. Remove cake from oven, remove foil and prick the bottom of the cake with a fork. Back to the cake from the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes until the skin is very lightly browned. Let cool on wire rack until completely cold.
For the pears:
2 cups red wine
2 tbs lemon juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 6 ripe, firm pears
1/4 cup red currant jelly (or other preserve – I used raspberry)
Bring wine, lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon to boil in a saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, peel, halve, stem and core pears. When the syrup is boiling, drop in the pears and simmers for 8-10 minutes, until pears are tender when pierced with a knife. Cool pears in syrup for 20 minutes, and then drain on a rack.
It quickly reduces the syrup stage thread (230 degrees). Add jelly or conserve for the syrup and simmer until the jelly has dissolved and syrup coats the back of a spoon with a light glaze.
Assemble cake:
Paint the inside of the tart shell with pear syrup and gelatin. Fill tank with Frangipane, smoothing with a spatula. Cut the pears into diagonal slices, or lengthwise and place them on the cream. Lightly glaze pears with some of the remaining gelatin with a pastry brush.
Serve cold or at room temperature.
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