Pear and Pignoli Tart
For Pastry
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 stick cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 1/4 cup ice water
Whiz together flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Cut in butter, using pulse function, until dough resembles a fine meal. Add ice water and pulse until dough just comes together. Remove dough from food processor and quickly pat into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until needed, at least 2 hours.
For Pignoli Filling
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 cup pignoli nuts, toasted
- 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon brandy
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Combine pignoli nuts and flour in bowl of food processor and whiz together to form a coarse meal. Do not overwork. Add meal to creamed butter and sugar and mix well. Add eggs and mix to combine. Stir in salt and brandy. Filling can be made a day in advance and refrigerated until needed.
For Pears
- 4 firm but ripe pears, peeled, quartered, cored and each quarter halved
- juice of 1//2 a lemon
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- Pinch sea salt
- 2 tablespoons pignoli nuts
Combine pears with lemon juice, sugar, flour and salt and toss to coat.
When ready to assemble tart. Heat oven to 400. Remove pastry from refrigerator and let stand a few minutes at room temperature to make for easy rolling. Dust a clean work surface with flour. Roll out pastry creating a nice 10 inch circle of even thickness. Transfer pastry to a parchment lined baking sheet. Spread pastry with Pignoli Filling, using an offset spatula to create an even layer that reaches to within an inch and half of pastry perimeter. Arrange pears (do not discard juices that have collected in the bottom of bowl - you will want them) over filling and sprinkle with pignoli nuts. Quickly turn up pastry edges to swaddle pears and filling. Place in refrigerator to chill about 30 minutes. Brush pastry with reserved pear juices and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake until fruit is soft and fruit is set, about another 20 minutes.