Caramelized Pear Tart

3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut in pieces
6-8 firm pears
Pastry for single crust, unbaked*

Place sugar and water in 8- or 9-inch cast-iron skillet. Bring to boil and
cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally but not constantly.
Mixture will first dissolve, then foam, then thicken and turn a deep, rich
amber-brown. At that point, remove it from the heat and stir in butter.
You should now have caramel.

Peel, quarter, and core the pears. Arrange them in concentric circles, cut
side up, on top of the caramel in the skillet. (Keep in mind that the tart
will be inverted before it is served; the fruit on the bottom will be
visible.) Continue layering pears until pan is full.

Return skillet to stove and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, until
syrup thickens and is reduced by half. (Take care that the caramel doesn't
burn.) Remove from heat. Place crust over skillet and trim, leaving about
1/2 inch over sides of pan. Tuck edges down into skillet around pears.
Bake at 375 F 20-30 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Cool on rack 20
minutes, then loosen pastry from sides of pan with sharp knife, if
necessary. Place serving dish over tart and invert quickly (and
carefully). Serve immediately.

*For this tart, which requires a firmer crust, omit the sugar and egg yolk
and add 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Embarrassing admission no. 3: I ruined three of these. (MOTHER'S publisher
is perhaps the first to record a deficit under the heading "Pears.")
General irritability led me to try a fourth, which was pretty and
delicious. The tart is actually simple to make, assuming you avoid all of
the pitfalls into which I dashed headlong. 1) Some cookbooks suggest lemon
juice instead of water in the caramel. This produces a bitter undertaste
and such comments as "Well, it certainly looks nice." Use water. It was
good enough for Julia Child. 2) Don't try to make caramel over medium-low
heat. The water will simply evaporate, leaving you with a pile of wet
sugar. For the sugar and water to caramelize, you need medium-high heat.
After you add the butter, the substance in the pan should look, smell and
taste like caramel. If it looks and tastes like a mixture of sugar, water
and butter, start over; it is not going to caramelize while it simmers on
the stove another 20 minutes. Trust me. Save yo
urself
some pears. 3) Don't rush the final resting time; let the tart stand a
full 20 minutes before inverting it. Otherwise, the sauce won't have time
to re-thicken, and when you flip the tart, you'll caramelize your kitchen.
4) Even caramel that refuses to harden under any other circumstances will
become as rock when it hits a hot stove. Wipe up spills immediately.


Short, Sweet Pastry

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
2 tablespoons ice water
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. With two sharp knives or a pastry
blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix egg yolk
with ice water, add to bowl, and stir quickly with fork, just until
moisture is absorbed. If dough will not hold together, add more ice water,
a teaspoon at a time, until you can form dough into a ball. Gather up
dough, flatten into a disk, wrap in foil or plastic wrap, and refrigerate
30 minutes.

On a lightly floured board or counter top, roll pastry to a thickness of
1/8 inch. Roll it up loosely over the rolling pin, then unroll it onto the
tart pan. Lifting the edges of the crust, fit it into the pan, tucking it
into the bottom creases and pressing it into the flutes along the sides.
(Don't stretch the dough, or it will simply shrink back when baked.) Trim
pastry by rolling the rolling pin across the top of the pan. Chill until
ready to use (your final chance to relax the gluten). Makes enough pastry
for one eight- to 11-inch tart.

Embarrassing admission no. 2: In testing recipes for this article, I made
the crust described above for the first few tarts; it drew compliments. As
deadline approached and shortcuts beckoned, I bought a Pillsbury All Ready
Pie Crust, which I considered too salty and not sweet enough for a tart
crust. (Ignore the crust, I was prepared to say, just taste the filling.)
It drew compliments. On the spot, I concluded that if the people I cook
for have no particular preference between a crust that takes an hour to
make and one that requires 30 seconds, I may well have rolled my last
piece of dough. If you also cook for nonpurists, you might want to
investigate this unfold-and-bake product.

Blind baking. Caution: Don't start blind baking your pie crusts-partially
pre-baking an empty shell-unless you are prepared to continue for the rest
of your cooking career. The crust will be so much firmer and crisper that
you will never be content with a soggy bottom again. Particularly useful
with liquid or custard fillings, blind baking is, fortunately, simple and
fast.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Place pastry in tart pan, line with foil-shiny side
down, so as not to reflect the heat-and fill with dry beans, pushing them
into the bottom edges. (The beans can be stored and used repeatedly.) Bake
about 15 minutes, until bottom is set and sides are lightly browned. If
the filling is particularly runny, add a second step: Brush the bottom
with a beaten egg yolk, and bake another two minutes, until glaze is dry.
Your crust is now ready to be filled and baked.

Source:
<http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/1988_September_October/Autumn_Tarts>



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