Very Easy Pear Tart

This tart requires very little actual cooking. It's more about just assembling the pieces.

The first thing that makes this tart so easy to make is buying premade puff pastry dough. Even my super old school French chef instructor when I was in cooking school told us that the culinary institute would probably be the last place that we would ever make puff pastry (mille feuille) from scratch because the labor involved is just not worth it since companies like Dufour are making very high quality, ready to use, dough. Just look for a dough that uses only butter. That’s key.

Dust surfaces of the dough and the counter with a small amount of flour. Roll the defrosted but cold pastry dough to ¼ inch, or so, thickness. Cut the dough into a rectangle that is about 6 inches wide. The length doesn’t matter. Just be sure it fits on the baking sheet you’ll be using. Cut two lengthwise strips, about 1 inch thick, off the sides. Place the rectangular piece on an ungreased baking sheet and prick it a lot with a fork. This keeps the center from rising.

Cut two ripe and sweet pears in half and remove pits. Slice very thinly lengthwise. Slices should be about 1/8 inch thick. Arrange the pear slices in an overlapping fashion on the rectangle piece leaving an inch of space on either side.

Now using an egg wash (beaten egg with a couple tablespoons of water) brush the bare sides of the rectangle. Then place the inch thick strips you cut off earlier on top of the egg wash. For a decorative touch, and to help seal the two pieces together, you can cut diagonal slices a couple inches apart, ½ inch deep, up both sides of the tart. Now lightly brush egg wash on the top of the strips.

Sprinkle the pears liberally with sugar and lightly with a little cinnamon.

If all of this has taken a long time and your dough has become gooey stick the whole thing in the refrigerator for half and hour. This will help the pastry dough rise better. If things don’t seem to have become too warm then skip this.

Stick it in an oven around 375 degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes, rotating it once during that time.
The sides should be a rich brown and cooked through.

Let cool for a few minutes and serve with ice cream or whipped cream. It can also be served completely cooled and it doesn’t necessarily need the cream. It makes a great morning pastry too.

If you want to get really fancy (here comes the trick of the trade) just melt a little apricot jam with a little water and bring just to a boil. Brush the mixture gently over the fruit. This gives it that super glisteny look you see in pastry shops.