PEAR & ALMOND TART

The Pear is a lovely fruit, delicious served in a sweet dessert such as in the recipe below or as an accompaniment to savoury food, such as strong cheeses.

Pears are very similar to Apples in looks and shape; however there are a couple of ways to distinguish them apart. The pear has a grainy textured flesh which is produced by small clusters of lignified cells. Apparently if dropped into a bowl of water a pear will sink where as an apple will float! Pear wood is often used as preferred firewood as it produces a very aromatic smoke ideal for smoking meats and fish.

Ingredients for the filling

1        sweet pastry tart case, blind baked

250g  soft unsalted butter

250g  caster sugar

2        egg whites

250g  ground almonds

100g  plain flour

3 or 4 pears

 

 

Method

Begin by making the almond filling. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly add the egg whites bit by bit until well combined. Fold in the ground almonds and plain flour. Mix everything together well.

Peel the pears, cut in half and remove the core. Arrange the pears in the tart case. Spoon over the almond mix and bake in a pre heated oven (180°C) for about 30 minutes until pears are soft and the almond mix is light golden in colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Dust with icing sugar and serve with some freshly whipped cream.

Copy Right Rob Rees MBE DL – www.robrees.com.au