Pie and Pastry Bible (48 page)

POACH THE PEARS

Halve and core the pears just before poaching so that they do not darken.

In a 10-inch skillet just large enough to hold the pears in a single layer, combine the water, lemon juice, and eau-de-vie. In a small bowl, place the sugar and vanilla bean and, using your fingers, rub the seeds into the sugar. Add the vanilla sugar and the vanilla pod to the skillet and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Place the pears, hollow side down, in the skillet and bring the liquid to a boil. Place a round of parchment on top of the pears. Simmer over low heat, tightly covered, for 8 to 10 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the thickest part of a pear enters easily. The pears should still be slightly firm. Remove the pan from the heat and cool to room temperature, covered only by the parchment. It will take about 1 hour to cool completely.

Transfer the pears and their syrup to a bowl. Cover them tightly and refrigerate until ready to use.

Drain the pears, reserving the liquid (about 1¾ cups). Remove the vanilla bean. Cover the pears and refrigerate them. Pour the liquid into a small saucepan. Boil down the liquid to 1½ cups.

MAKE THE CUSTARD FILLING

Chill a mixing bowl for whipping the cream.

Have a fine strainer suspended over a small mixing bowl ready near the range.

In a small heavy nonreactive saucepan, using a wooden spoon, stir together the sugar, salt, gelatin, and yolks until well blended.

In another small saucepan (or a heatproof glass measure, if using a microwave on high power), heat ¾ cup of the reduced pear poaching liquid to the boiling point. (Refrigerate the remaining ¾ cup for the glaze.) Stir a few tablespoons of the hot poaching liquid into the yolk mixture; then gradually add the rest of it, stirring constantly.

Heat the mixture to just before the boiling point (180° to 190°F.). Steam will begin to appear and the mixture will be slightly thicker than heavy cream. It will leave a well-defined track when a finger is run across the back of the spoon. Immediately remove it from the heat and pour it into the strainer, scraping up the thickened custard that has settled on the bottom of the pan. Set it aside.

In the chilled bowl, whip the cream until it mounds softly when dropped from a spoon. Refrigerate while preparing the meringue.

A MAXIMUM OF 20 MINUTES BEFORE USING IT, MAKE THE MERINGUE

In a mixing bowl, beat the egg white until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form when the beater is raised slowly. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised slowly. Set the meringue aside.

Chill the pear custard by placing the bowl in a bowl of ice water with about a tablespoon of salt added to speed chilling. Stir occasionally for the first 10 minutes and then slowly but constantly for about 10 minutes longer. (If you prefer, you can refrigerate the mixture, stirring occasionally for first 10 minutes and then every few minutes.) When a small amount dropped from the spoon mounds very slightly on the surface before disappearing, and the mixture has started to set around the edges but is still very liquid, immediately remove the bowl from the ice-water bath and whisk in the pear eau-de-vie. Continuing with the whisk, fold in the meringue and then the whipped cream until just incorporated. The mixture will be billowy but soupy like melted ice cream. Finish by using a rubber spatula to reach to the bottom. (There will be 3 cups of filling.) Pour it at once into the pastry shell. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

MAKE THE PEAR DECORATION

Use a sharp thin knife to slice the pears lengthwise into thin slices. Place a fan of overlapping slices on top of the filling with the pointed ends at the center. To form a pear-shaped decoration, trim 2 slices to make them shorter but maintain the pear shape and place them, slightly overlapping, curved sides out, in the center of the pie. Cut a small piece of stem or vanilla bean and place it on the pointed end of this “pear.”

MAKE THE GLAZE

In a small saucepan, or a 4-cup heatproof liquid measure if using a microwave on high power, boil down the reserved ¾ cup of poaching syrup to ¼ cup. Cool it to room temperature, then add the arrowroot. Heat, stirring constantly, until thickened; with arrowroot, this will happen before the liquid comes to a boil. Remove it from the heat and, using a clean artist’s brush or pastry feather, coat the pears with glaze. Refrigerate and allow to set for at least 4 hours before serving.

STORE

Refrigerated, up to 3 days; frozen, up to 3 weeks.

POINTERS FOR SUCCESS

For the glaze, the reduced pear syrup must cool completely before you add the thickener, or it will lump.

APPLE WEINCREME CHIFFON TART

(winekrehm)

T
his exquisitely elegant and flavorful tart is unique to Swiss/German/ Austrian pastry. It consists of a Bavarian cream filling made with lemon juice and white wine. The type of wine used greatly affects the finished cream, making it fun to experiment. A Riesling, preferably Spätlese (just off-dry), produces a clean, slightly mineral quality. Sauternes offers a subtle honey background, while Muscadet suggests the poignant nectar of honeysuckle droplets experienced when you bite off the stem end of the blossom. But I enjoy making it with one of my favorite dessert wines: Far Niente’s Dolce. Half the bottle provides just the right taste for the filling and the other half just enough for six people to enjoy drinking in small fancy glasses with the tart.

In this recipe, most of the weincreme is combined with whipped cream for a mellow, creamy effect, but a small amount is reserved to float on top, forming an intensely flavored gilded-mirror finish for the poached apples. Tiny champagne grapes, when in season from July to mid-November, or small round Ruby Red grapes add an attractive touch of color. I like to make this tart in the fall because the apples are at their best for poaching.

EQUIPMENT

A 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom

Make the dough (page 59). Roll and shape it and transfer it to the pan and prebake it (see page 50-54).

POACH THE APPLES

Peel, halve, and core the apples just before poaching so that they do not darken.

In a saucepan or skillet just large enough to hold the apples in a single layer, stir together the wine and water. In a small bowl, place the sugar and vanilla bean, and, using your fingers, rub the seeds into the sugar. Add the vanilla sugar and the vanilla pod to the skillet and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the apples to the pan, rounded sides down, and bring the liquid to a boil. Place a round of parchment on top of the apples. Simmer over low heat, tightly covered, for 6 minutes. Turn the apples and continue simmering for 4 to 6 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the thickest part of an apple enters easily. The apples should still be slightly firm. Remove the pan from the heat and cool, covered only by the parchment. It will take about an hour to cool.

Transfer the apples and their liquid to a bowl. Cover it tightly and refrigerate until ready to use. The apples become more flavorful if allowed to sit in the poaching syrup for at least 24 hours.

SERVES: 8
INGREDIENTS	MEASURE	WEIGHT
	VOLUME	OUNCES	GRAMS
*You will actually need only about 2½ apples, but it’s nice to have extra so that the most attractive pieces can be selected.
†One package = 2¼ + teaspoons (7.5 grams), and it can be used in its entirety.
‡As the zest is added to impart flavor and is then strained out, there is no need to chop it very fine. Simply remove with a zester or peeler.
Sweet Nut Cookie Tart Crust, made with walnuts, for a 10inch tart (page 59), prebaked	1 generous cup	10.75 ounces	305 grams
Poached Apples 3 medium tart apples, such as Greening or Granny Smith*		1¼ pounds	567 grams
Dolce, Spätlese Riesling, Sauternes, or Muscadet	¾ liquid cup	6.25 ounces	177 grams
water	¾ liquid cup	6.25 ounces	177 grams
sugar	cup	2.33 ounces	66.6 grams
vanilla bean, split lengthwise	1 inch	•	•
Weincreme Chiffon sugar	1 cups, divided	9.3 ounces	266 grams
gelatin	2¼ teaspoons†	0.25 ounce	7 grams
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten	3 fluid ounces	3.25 ounces	93 grams
reserved syrup from poaching apples	(1 cup)	•	•
lemon zest‡	1 tablespoon	0.25 ounces	6 grams
freshly squeezed lemon juice	liquid cup	5.7 ounces	163 grams
heavy cream	½ liquid cup	4 ounces	116 grams
Garnish champagne grapes, left whole, or small red grapes, sliced in half and seeded	•	•	•