A lovely pear

I have a love hate relationship with pears. I love to eat them but I hate the fact that 90% of the time they are rock solid. I don’t know if it is just Australian pears that have such an incredibly short window when they are good to eat. For me they are either rock hard or squishy and brown. There is really only about one day when they are just right to eat. I think this makes them all the more desirable. If I could just pick one up and eat it like I do with apples then there would not be the same attraction.

There must be something in the air that is tempting people towards tartins recently because I am seeing them in magazines quite a lot and someone in work even gave me a very simple recipe for a great little Pear Tarte Tatin that her mother had made. It got me to thinking that this would be a great way to have my pear and eat it. I remembered coming across a recipe in Jamie Oliver’s Cook with Jamie cookbook for a pretty simple Pear Tarte and so that was the one I decided I was going to make. It made me smile when I read in the recipe that it required 3 firm. slightly underripe pears. Now there was an ingredient I was going to have no problem finding.

This tart is so quick and easy to make it would be perfect for a dessert to finish off a diner party especially if the other courses were a little bit tricky. Apparently it tastes pretty good when made with apples too.

Pear Tarte Tatin

100g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways, seeds removed and reserved
3 firm, slightly underripe, pears, peeled, cored and rubbed with lemon juice
20g unsalted butter
1/2 tsp ground ginger
a handful of flaked almonds, toasted
250g ready made puff pastry
1 large free-range egg
1 tsp milk
a few sprigs of fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Put your sugar, vanilla pod and 100mV 3.5 fl oz water into a 2Ocm/8 inch ovenproof, heavy-bottomed frying pan and bring to the boil. Simmer this syrup until it thickens to become a lovely deep brown caramel. (When making caramel it's important that you don't stir it at all as this can affect the way the sugar behaves, so don't be tempted!)

Cut each of your pears into 6 wedges. Put the pears in with the caramel and gently toss them around so they get nicely coated. Stir in the butter and reduce for a further 5 minutes until you've got a thick, buttery caramel sauce. Carefully take off the heat and sprinkle over the ginger and then the almonds.

Next, roll out your puff pastry until it's about the thickness of a pound coin and cut it into a circle about the same size as your frying pan, so it will fit snugly inside it. Mix the egg with the milk, then lay the pastry on top of the pears, tucking it in around the edges, and brush the pastry top with a little of the egg mixture. Put the pan in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown on top, then remove from the oven and put to one side to cool down. To turn out your tatin, carefully place a plate on top of your frying pan and, using an oven cloth or glove, put your hand on top. Being very careful, as there will be hot liquid caramel around, quickly flip the tart over on to the plate.
Serve straight away, sprinkling with some thyme tips. Really lovely with thick clotted cream.