Pear Croustade
Dec 11th, 2007 | By Peter Minakis | Category: Baking, Dessert, Fruit
I recently agreed to participate in Seasoned Eatings, where bloggers would send a spice, herb or other culinary ingredient that wouldn’t set off a code red terrorist alert.
This fun, seasonal idea was the brainchild of Lindsay at Country Girl City Living and Katie of Thyme For Cooking.
Last week I received my package. It came from California (a good sign) and in it was a wrapped egg and a note instructing me to unravel it with a bowl underneath. This package must have taken me about 15 minutes to unravel so you can imagine how long it took to actually wrap.
You’re probably thinking, “what’s it take to wrap an egg”? Well, this was a an egg wrap that had a little token attached with every few layers and a quote about Canada and it’s greatness.
Who would take the time to do such a thing? Ladies and gentleman, I present to you (drum roll please)…..Pam of Zoomie Station.
I would like to thank Pam for taking the time and care to wrap the gift and for providing me with the gift of wild anise from her garden.
For those not in the know, anise are little seeds with a licorice aroma. I knew that I’d immediately love this ingredient as anise is used to flavour Greece’s national drink, Ouzo.
Included with the anise was the recipe for a Pear Croustade. I have made only one other croustade (apple) and I was a little nervous as I’m still learning how to bake.
Beyond forgetting to flatten the dough before refrigerating and my pathetic attempt to pleat and pinch the dough around the pears, the croustade turned out wonderfully well and I found pears and anise to make a terrific pair.
Pear Croustade
Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp. of ice cold water
1 egg yolk
Filling
2 firm but ripe pears (Bosc), peeled, quartered, cored and cut into 1/2″ wedges
(if small, use 3-4 pears)
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
1Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/3 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. anise seeds
1 large egg white, beaten to blend
CRUST:
- Mix flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter until coarse crumbs. Transfer to bowl.
- Mix egg yolk and ice water in small bowl. Using fork, blend to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into a disc. Wrap and chill until firm, about one hour.
- Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.
- Roll out dough on floured parchment paper to 10-inch round. Transfer dough on paper to baking sheet.
FILLING:
- Toss pears, sugar, flour, lemon juice, anise and allspice in a large bowl. Overlap pear slices atop dough, leaving 2″ border.
- Fold dough border over fruit, pleating loosely and pinching to seal any cracks. Brush dough with egg white. Drizzle cream over filling.
- Bake tart until crust is golden and filling bubbles, about 40 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to rack; cool slightly, about 15 minutes.
- Slide metal spatula under crust to free from parchment. Using large tart pan bottom as an aid, transfer tart to platter. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or French Vanilla ice cream.
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© 2007 – 2010, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
Congrats on a beautiful pear croustade and lucky you Peter, to have had the kind and thoughtful Pam share treasures from her very garden. I can’t wait to see what you make next with your fresh anise seeds!
Peter! Your croustade turned out beautifully! And I love how you photographed the unwinding of the surprise ball! What fun! Enjoy the holidays!
I love anise, Peter. It is so under-rated here in North America. Why is that? Anyway your croustade looks beautiful!
Great job on the recipe Peter. I am looking forward to receiving my package. I wonder where it will come from??
Foodbloggers are just fantastic, Peter – what a great gift! Pam is a generous person!
And this tart… Well, I’d trade my boring sandwich for a slice of this beauty in no time. ;)
What an exciting foodiegame! I’m checking Lindsay and Katie’s blogs inmediately… do you think they’ll do it again? (retoric question ;-)
Your Pears croustade must have a wonderful smell and flavour!!!
Lindsay, thanks for hosting, the exercise was fun!
Pam (Zoomie), thanks again for the time & thought that went into the pkge.
Jenn, give it time…N. Americans are expanding their taste buds rapidly.
Val, sadly I’m not your secret Santa this time. ;(
Pat, the pear and anise combo is wondrous!
Nuria, a little birdy whispered in my ear that another such game will be played in the near future. ;)
Great job Peter, you are surprising us every day. However, I read the recipe 3 – 4 times and I don’t understand where you put the anise seeds.
Ivy, sorry – my error, 1 tsp of anise with the pear filling.
Peter what a delicious gift you got and you have inspired me to make a pear crostata, I’ve always only made it with apples.
Never mind the pleating and all that, once that pastry is cooked with its yummy filling one hardly notices such trivial details :)
That looks nice and golden brown. Th pear and anise seed combination sounds interesting.
Sure wish I had some right now — you wouldn’t want to stick some in the mail to me would you? Huh, would you??? Oh well, I can always dream…
Sounds like a good combination! What a great way to send seeds too!
Ah, Peter… a ‘froufrouty’ French classic recipe… Poires au Pernod (Pears flambéed in Pernod)… anise and pears, a great combination in any culture ;-P
What a fun present! Fun to open and looks delicious. I think your Croustade looks perfect! (techniques can be over-rated)
And anise from her garden… lucky you!
Anise from her garden, a good reason to try it again…. Since I fed my children with my milk I had a anise phobia because of drinking anise, fennel and caraway tea :-)
The croustade looks yummy!
[...] Pam of Zoomie Station had sent me anise seeds from her garden (in California) along with her recipe for this easy, light and delicious Pear Croustade. [...]