Wow, Tuesdays With Dorie is one year old. It seems like it’s been around for ages. Although that’s about how long I’ve been baking so go figure! Looks like the grand dame herself chose this week’s treat. The French Pear Tart is courtesy of Dorie Greenspan and it’s a fine, fine tart if I may say so. Actually it was absolutely di-vine when it first came out of the oven. It was one of those taste experiences that reminds you of why the store bought stuff is c-r-a-p and why you keep baking. But alas, as with life, the peak of this tart is too short but more on that later.
As you may be sick of hearing, I don’t have a food processor. Necessity is not only the mother of invention but also learning new techniques in the kitchen! Guess what I learned how to do…blanch almonds!
I checked my box ‘o nuts that I have in the pantry and foolishly thought that I had plenty of blanched almonds. Turns out I do, but they are all slivered. Trying to grind nuts in a blender is a hair-pulling task and after my hazelnut meal turned out so well with the Yule log I decided that I would continue my grinding by hand method, ha…hahaha, yeah I’m weird that way. It takes an insane amount of time, but the results are amazing. The only thing is that you need a nice sized nut to start with and slivered almonds ain’t gonna work. I did happen to have a bag of whole, unblanched almonds. My Mom was kind enough to check the receptacle of all knowledge, the computer, and found a nice explanation from About.com. All you need is the almonds, a bowl, and some boiling water. Pour water over nuts just to cover and let sit for one minute and not a second longer, well maybe a second, but get those nuts out of their bath quick and pat dry. For the most part the skins should just slide right off, and voilà..blanched almonds! These were waaaaay easier to work with by hand.
I chose to make this with fresh pears. Boy, do pears go bad fast! I just bought them two days before and they were RIPE. They still worked out ok, but I don’t think that the poaching is really necessary, or maybe I did it too long, or maybe my pears were too ripe because the consistency seemed a bit too mushy for my tastes. I’m not sure what I’ll do next time, maybe get less ripe pears, maybe no poaching, maybe I’ll just get a damn can of pears. I don’t know.
I briefly thought about doing a nut crust but then thought better of it since I was already grinding enough nuts by hand for this recipe. Everything came together quite well despite some mushiness in the pear department. Thinking about the whole pear issue again, I may have sliced them a bit too thin too, God knows. Oh, I almost forgot. I forgot to dust with confectioners’ sugar. I didn’t miss it, and that’s saying something because I generally feel pretty much anything is better with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
If you like sweet, this will knock your taste buds out. As I said this was heavenly right out of the oven. The next day, not so much. I realize a lot of these desserts should be eaten the same day, but there’s no way I can make a whole recipe and eat it in one day. I would seriously be crane-worthy after a couple of weeks of that. I always try to enjoy the heck out of these creations for as many days as I can, but some desserts certainly loose their luster after the first day. This is the first dessert that I ever came across having a real noticeable difference after the first day. If you’re going to try to keep this longer than a day I suggest you heat your slice up a bit. I’m not sure why, but it just lost that heavenly quality and was just ok out of the fridge. Reheating doesn’t completely regain the original flavor but it does help.
Despite the second day wilting, I would definitely make this one again. Thanks Dorie!
