I was super excited to see Orange Almond Tart on the February lineup of French Friday with Dorie! Until, I found out it contained oranges. I love, love orange flavor and it is one of my favorites in desserts, but I don't eat oranges themselves. I'll drink the juice, use the zest, and even eat mandarin oranges, but can't bring myself to eat an actual orange. It's totally a texture thing, I just can't get past the pulp.
So, I decided to use one of Dorie's Bonne Idees and make a Pear Almond Tart. Again, super excited to see that I could use canned pears but decided to try something new and poach the pears. The poaching part was easy, removing the core from a poached pear, not so much! I love making Dorie's pate sablee and chose to press it into the tart pan rather than rolling it out. So much easier! I baked the tart shell too long during the blind baking phase (due to a 'shortcut' I thought I had discovered and later decided, while easier, results in the edges of the tart browning too much). It was still delicious though.
I have learned to check and make sure I have all the required ingredients before starting a recipe and did so with this one as well. I pulled a small plastic bag out of my pantry and was pleasantly surprised that I had almond flour on hand for the almond cream. Fast forward several hours when I have already mixed the first ingredients in the food processer and discover that my almond flour is actually cream of wheat (leftover from the Caramel Topped Semolina Cake). On the verge of having a complete screaming fit, I realized I could just use almonds. So I threw in a cup of slivered almonds and blitzed away. I then remembered that almond flour is actually a mixture of almonds and flour (it had been a long day). It was too late and I just went with it.
I fully expected this to be a complete disaster but it wasn't! I like the almond cream with the sweetness of the pear. Unfortunately, it wasn't much to look at but completely the cook's fault. In retrospect, I wish I had made this with oranges because I'm sure that it was fantastic, pulp and all!
Glad you overcome your trials with some good saves! I am yearning to try this one with pears as well. And plums. And grapefruit. And...
ReplyDeleteGood for you to think on your feet when you discovered the Cream of Wheat! I think it still looks tasty, mainly because of the yummy pears!
ReplyDeleteI want to make the pear tart - it looks so good! I made my own almond flour as well and was happy to discover how easy it is to make.
ReplyDeleteI want to try the pear and plum versions, just to taste that wonderful crust again. You should try blood oranges!
ReplyDeleteI'll try pears next time. I sometimes have screaming fits in the kitchen:)
ReplyDeleteYour tart is beautiful! That's too bad about the orange pulp texture thing, but I can see how that would be (I'm a texture person, too, in that I usually don't like something because of it). I also love the screaming fit thing--I think we've all done it. I just read something today that said we should allow ourselves the brief screaming fit because it releases less cortisol than bottling it up!
ReplyDeleteI really love the idea of doing this with pears!
ReplyDeleteI used straight almond (meal) in mine too and aside form being a little gooey, I think it was just fine!
Beautiful. I can't wait to try it with the pears. Interesting about the orange texture thing - I personally have a thing about mushrooms and it is a deal breaker for so many recipes. It also surprises folks.."how could you not want the grilled portobello ???" but we are what we are. And there are always other Bonne Ideas to keep us busy.
ReplyDeleteI want to bake the pear tart next...this recipe is wonderful...takes some time, but worth it. Sorry about all your troubles. Some days are just like that! I have them every now and then...usually when I just have too much going on. But I'm guessing that it was tasty enough that you will want to try again.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great - I need to get my hands on some pears ASAP. I love making tarts and this looks like it would be delicious with some cream...
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