Pear Tart – Two Ways (Dinner and Dessert)

I noted in my turnover recipe that the dough could have other uses. How about an example? :)

I’ve been in love with Asian pears recently, so a recipe using them seemed in order. Asian pears have a texture more akin to apples ie: very crunchy and very juicy. (Admittedly, baking them ruins their awesome crunchiness, so buy some extras to eat raw.) Amusingly enough, they are not “pear-shaped” but round like apples. They do have the characteristic grittiness of pears, though.

I figured if we made the same amount of dough as we did for the turnovers, we would have enough for two tarts, which works out well if you want dinner and dessert.

Tart Dough

• 1 stick of butter, room temperature
• 1 cup small curd cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1 cup oat flour (make sure it comes from a gluten-free facility)
• 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Combine all the dry ingredients, making sure they are thoroughly mixed, set aside.
2. Mix the butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese in a mixer until well combined, then add the cider vinegar. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and continue mixing until a ball forms.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Pear Tart with Mustard Greens and Gouda

• 1 small pear, thinly sliced then cut each slice into small pieces
• 2 cups mustard greens, torn into small pieces
• 1/4 cup shredded gouda
• freshly cracked pepper
• 1/2 of the dough mixture listed above
• extra flour to work with the dough

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a well floured surface, press out the dough so that it is roughly an 8 by 11 rectangle. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to score a border about 1/2 inch from the edge (do not cut all the way through the dough). Prick the dough with a fork. Bake until dough starts to brown (about 20 minutes), remove from the oven.
2. Steam the greens just a tad so that they’re softened. (I steamed mine in the microwave for 20 seconds.) Evenly spread the cheese within the border of the tart, top with the steamed greens, then layer the sliced pear on top. Finish with a couple cranks of pepper.
3. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the tart is browned. Serve.

Cinnamon Nutmeg Pear Tart

• 1 small pear, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 of the dough mixture listed above
• extra flour to work with the dough

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. On a well floured surface, press out the dough so that it is roughly an 8 by 11 rectangle. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to score a border about 1/2 inch from the edge (do not cut all the way through the dough). Prick the dough with a fork. Bake until dough starts to brown, about 20 minutes, remove from the oven.
2. Mix the pear, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Arrange the pears on the tart, keeping within the borders.
3. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until the pears are soft and tart is browned. Serve.

I wrote out the recipes separately for clarity, but you can (and I would recommend) that you make the tarts at the same time. (Unless you are only going to make one or the other, then please keep in mind you only need to make half of the dough.)

This dough recipe is slightly different from the one I used for the turnovers. Some buckwheat flour snuck in and replaced some of the brown rice, mainly because we had some buckwheat flour that I was trying to use up. Feel free to use your own flour mixture. (For the mathematically challenged, like myself, you need 2 cups flour grand total.)

As I noted in the earlier post, this dough is pastry-like, but don’t expect the light flakiness of gluten-filled pastry dough. However, I’ve decided I really like this dough mainly because of how easy it is to make. There’s much less fuss involved than there is when you try to make “real” pastry.

On to notes about the toppings: If you look at the top picture you can clearly see the cheese on top of the pear and greens. Well, that was attempt number 1. Trust me, it works much better to put the cheese underneath. Otherwise, you take a bite, and all your toppings come off at once. This is also the reason it’s important that the greens are torn into small pieces and steamed.

Depending on the size of your pears, you may end up with a little extra. I figured this would not be a problem, since you like pears (That’s why you’re making this right?), so you can have a little snack while you wait for your tarts to bake.