Pear and Almond Tart recipe

This is the last of the three pastry dishes that I made last weekend. Coincidentally, it's the dessert that may mate Maurice had at our local restaurant when he took his wife out for his wedding anniversary on Thursday. I guess that theirs would be made with poached fresh pears; mine's a cheats version using tinned ones, but if you want to poach fresh pears and use them in this recipe, that's fine. I would do as well, if it was for a special occasion.

I made this tart in the Silverwood 'Tarte Maison' Tin that my kids bought for my birthday. It can be eaten hot or cold, but I think that it's nicest cold

Ingredients

Pastry

8oz (225g) flour
2½oz (70g) butter
2½oz (70g) lard
1oz (30g) sugar
A Pinch of salt
Milk or 2 egg yolks to mix.

Filling

4oz (110g) Ground Almond
1oz (110g) Self-raising flour
4oz (110g) Sugar
4oz (110g) Butter
2 Eggs
Poached or tinned pears

To Finish

Apricot glaze - that's 1 tablespoon of apricot jam mixed with hot water until it's runny.

Method

Add the salt to the flour and then rub in the fats until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the milk/egg a little at a time until you can form a dough. Wrap it and place it in the fridge for twenty minutes before rolling it out and lining a flan tin with it. It's a very soft dough so you may need to put it into the tin in pieces and 'patch' it together. Put it into the fridge for another twenty minutes or so to rest. Prick the base of the pastry all over with a fork and then line it with baking paper and beans. Bake it at 180°C for 12 minutes then remove the beans and paper and bake it for a further 5 minutes or until cooked but not too brown.

Meanwhile, beat the sugar and butter until soft and creamy, gradually 'beat in' the egg. Add a little of the flour if the mixture looks like curdling. Mix in the almonds and the ( rest of the) flour and then spread the mixture over the base of the cooked flan case. Slice the pears and fan them out on top of the almond paste. Cook it at 180°C until the top is golden. Allow it to cool a little, or to go completely cold, then glaze it.