Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Tuesdays with Dorie: French Pear Tart


My first post of the new year!

It's been a while for a TWD treat from me and I am more than excited that this week was chosen from Dorie herself! Also being the 1 year anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie, I wanted to help celebrate! Dorie chose her French Pear Tart for us all the bake, go take a peek at hers and get the recipe! 

Click here for the recipe found on Smitten Kitchen.



I went with 3 fresh Red D'Anjou pears, since they had them on sale (2 lbs/$3.00). I don't have a tart pan (yet!), so I had to compromise and use a pie plate. I chose to make the nut crust with almond meal, which I also used in the almond cream. I then simply sliced the poached pears and layed them around the dessert (tart) -what do I call this since I didn't use a tart pan? ;) .



Using the fresh pears in this made me think outside the can (haha), and I'm glad I did! I have never poached pears before, I usually eat them fresh as is. These beauties came out better than any canned pear could. I had about 1 1/2 pears left over from this recipe and we enjoyed eating them as a snack. I will definitely be poaching fresh pears more often.

I thought this was really good, parts of it were chewy and yummy reminding me of a recipe I've made before. I used the apple jelly glaze and a dusting of powdered sugar. had trouble getting the pieces out of the pie plate as suspected, because some of the bottom stuck. I couldn't taste much of the pear flavor, and I think the almond flavors set in better the next day. I would love to try this again in a tart pan (which I am moving up on my amazon wish list -which my Husband really does look at it! ;) ). My kids especially adored this French Pear Tart. Thanks Dorie!














Thought I'd share this, during our Christmas break, my sister and her family came for a visit. We headed off to the San Diego Zoo, and while I was putting this collage together I realized most of the animals were eating something as I took their picture! How fitting for my blog.
PS. the Giraffes are my favorite!
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18 Lovely Comments:

LyB said...

My kids loved this so much too! Your pie/tart looks beautiful, I really like how you fanned the pears on top.

farah said...

Well done, what a great job on your tart. It looks delicious :-)

Anonymous said...

Great job! I love the way you arranged the pears and I'm so glad you poached the pears and liked them. It's an easy thing to do and you can really vary the poaching syrup -- you can spice it up with ginger and/or cinnamon, you can add vanilla or you can skip the syrup and poach the pears in red wine and sugar or honey. I'm happy you enjoyed the recipe.

Rachelle S said...

Awhh, thanks SO much for visiting my blog Dorie! That means so much to me, I think I'll print my comments out for this entry and keep in my copy of Baking! :) Sort of like a virtual autograph.

Unknown said...

What a beautiful pear pattern! I'll be looking for the almond meal next time I hit Trader Joe's - I'll be dangerously close to being able to whip up some almond cream whenever I want it.

Katy said...

Your tart looks great!! And I too love the way you arranged the pears. :)

Rachel said...

It's gorgeous! I agree it was easier than I thought and munching extra pears was a perfect snack!

Linda said...

Beautiful presentation on the tart! I also used the TJoes almond meal (so convenient).

BTW, I LOVE the SD zoo...my hubby and I trek down from LA a couple times a year to visit friends and we never miss a visit to the zoo!

Pamela said...

You did a great job on the tart, and I love all the pics from the Zoo! Hope you get EVERYTHING on your wish list. :o)

Anonymous said...

Wow your tart looks fantastic. I have a ton of poached pears, might have to give this one a try.

The Food Librarian said...

Lovely photos! I love that you used fresh pears - they are just beautiful.

Tania said...

Your "tart" looks fantastic! And the shots of the pears is such a great photo!
Take cake,
Tania
lovebigbakeoften.blogspot.com

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