This recipe is provided courtesy of Daryl Wood Gerber, the author of A Souffle of Suspicion.
From the publisher:
The buoyant mood at Bistro Rousseau deflates when Chef Camille’s sister, Renee, turns up dead in the chef’s kitchen, and Mimi Rousseau must tease the real killer out of a mélange of menacing characters.
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Ingredients
Crust (*Gluten-free Crust Recipe Below)
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Filling:
- 6 large pears washed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon water
- 3/4 cup fig preserves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Gluten-free Crust
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1 cup sweet rice flour
- 1 tablespoon whey flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Ingredients
Crust (*Gluten-free Crust Recipe Below)
Filling:
Gluten-free Crust
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Instructions
Main Recipe
- Set one oven rack in the middle of the oven and set another at the top or second to the top slot (depending on how hot your broiler is).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix together flour, sugar and salt. Add melted butter and combine to form dough. Set the dough into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough along the bottom and onto the side rims of the pan.
- Place the crust in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until crust turns golden brown. When ready, remove crust from oven and let it cool. Leave oven on.
- Meanwhile, set the fig preserves into a small microwaveable bowl and heat for about 40 seconds. Pour the fig preserves through a mesh strainer into a bowl to separate chunks from liquid. Don’t throw away either portion. Set aside.
- Now, slice three pears into 1/2-inch slices, discarding core. (You do not need to peel.) Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet. Add pear slices plus 1 tablespoon water. Cover and cook on medium heat until pears are slightly tender— about 3 minutes. Remove pears onto a large plate and let cool.
- Take the remaining three pears and cut them in the same manner. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in previously used skillet. Add the uncooked pears, chunks of fig reserves, and salt. Cook on medium heat, covered, for ten minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they cook through. You want them to be very tender.
- Using a potato masher, mash the pears and fig reserves into a puree. Let cook for another 5-7 minutes or until pureed mixture reduces and thickens. It will turn a darker color. That’s okay.
- Transfer pear-fig puree onto the cooled tart crust; spread evenly. It will fill up nicely.
- Next, take the cooled pear slices that you set side and assemble them in layered circles, starting at the outer edges, like a rose petal design. You might have to trim a few to make them fit together.
- Place tart on the middle rack of the oven. Bake at 350 degrees F for 28-30 minutes.
- Just before the tart is finished baking, warm up the strained liquid fig preserves for 20 seconds in the microwave.
- When the tart is cooked, remove it from oven and brush the surface of the pears evenly with the warmed fig liquid. Return the tart to the oven and place on the top rack (or second to the top rack). Broil very briefly!!! 1-2 minutes. Watch carefully until pears get a nice caramelized look. You don’t want the fig jam to burn.
- Remove from oven and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving.
- When ready—and this is a nifty trick—place the bottom of the tart pan on a wide can of food. Hold the ring part of the pan and carefully slide it downwards. It leaves a perfectly formed crust.
- Cut pear fig tart into eight slices and serve.
GLUTEN-FREE CRUST:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a bowl, mix together cornstarch, tapioca flour, sweet rice flour, whey flour, xanthan gum, sugar and salt. Add melted butter and combine to form dough. Set the dough into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough along the bottom and onto the side rims of the pan.
- Place the crust in the oven on the middle rack and bake for 28-30 minutes, or until crust turns golden brown. When ready, remove crust from oven and let sit to cool. Leave oven on. Return to main recipe, Step 5: “Meanwhile, set the fig preserves…”
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