Pear and Ginger Brown-Butter Tart

"Recipe by: Nancy Silverton"
 
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Ready In:
2hrs
Ingredients:
14
Yields:
1 10inch tart

ingredients

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directions

  • Ginger Brown-Butter: Slice the unpeeled ginger root into 1/4 inch rounds.
  • set aside.
  • Sift flour and ground ginger.
  • Set aside.
  • Whisk together the eggs and sugar until combined.
  • Beat in flour and ground ginger.
  • set aside.
  • In a small saucepan, heat butter with vanilla bean and ginger root over high heat until brown and foamy.
  • Continue heating until bubbles subside and the butter is dark brown and smoking.
  • Whisking continuously, pour hot butter in a steady stream into the egg mixture.
  • Combine well.
  • Strain and discard vanilla bean and ginger root.
  • The ginger brown-butter can be made to this point and refrigerated for a week.
  • Warm to room temperature before using.
  • Poaching the Pears: Combine all ingeredients except pears in a stainless steel saucepan.
  • Peel, halve and core pears and drop immediately into liquid.
  • Place a clean kitchen towel over the pears on the surface of the liquid, to keep them submerged.
  • Bring to a boil and reduce heat to just below a simmer until the pears can be easily pierced with a wooden skewer.
  • Spread pears on a parchment lined sheetpan and refrigerate until cool.
  • These will keep covered for a couple of days.
  • Reserve 1 cup of the poaching liquid.
  • Assembling The Tart: Preheat oven to 350.
  • Line a 10-inch tart ring with sweet tart dough.
  • Pour or pipe ginger brown butter into the pastry shell, filling to 1/2 inch of the top.
  • Place pears, cut side down on a cutting board and cut them crosswise into 1/8 inch slices.
  • Keep the sliced pear halves in tact.
  • Press slightly to shingle the slices and slightly elongate their shape.
  • Slip a thin offset spatula under each of the sliced pear halves and place on top of the brown butter, stem end toward the center.
  • Arrange pear halves around the tart like the spokes of a wheel.
  • If there is room in the center add another pear half or additional slices.
  • You should have approximately 7 halves around the outside and one half in the middle.
  • This will depend largely on the size of the pears.
  • Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until well browned.
  • Cool.
  • Just before serving, boil the reserved poaching liquid until it reduces to 1/4 cup.
  • It will be very thick.
  • With a pastry brush, paint a thin layer of glaze over the pears.
  • Remove tart from the tart ring and slice.
  • Serve with vanilla or ginger ice cream.

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Reviews

  1. Excellent and most impressive tart. I've made it twice now. It was good to be able to start a week in advance with the ginger butter and pastry. It takes quite a while for the butter to brown (can't remember exactly but about 10 minutes at least), and the bubbles never did go away completely. I used a 9 1/2" tart pan. I overcooked my first tart (because the pears shrank away from the filling upon cooling), but the second time at 1 hour was perfect. The best thing about this tart, apart from the fun you have making it, and its appearance, is the really wonderful taste. There is a picture on the internet of this tart so you know what you are aiming for. That was really helpful too. Next time I'm going to try this with mangoes.
     
  2. Double that 5 star rating! This is a wonderful dessert! I made it for a pastry competition and it was a huge success. The tart starts to brown early, but just be patient. I learned that you don't want any wiggle when you take it out of the oven. It needs to be firm.
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

I am a single mom in Seattle. I enjoy a wide variety of activities including reading, crafts, sports (my son plays baseball and football), cooking, and just about anything else you can think of. We have 2 dogs, Thunder and Lightning...my taste testers. I have lived in this area most of my life. Everytime I move away, I come back because it's so beautiful. I have been hopping on Zaar for a while now, perusing recipes and getting ideas. I figured it was time to contribute back to the site...add some recipes and reviews.
 
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