Tour de France - Stage 21: Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris.
The final day of the Tour de France and my culinary ride along...or is it?! Today was mostly a ceremonial day, reflecting on the last three weeks of racing. Likewise, as I was baking and waiting between the various steps, I reflected back on my endeavor. Yes, it was absolutely fun. But there were some freakouts and worries and doubts and even a little burnout. But, much like life, I kept pushing on and into uncharted culinary territory for myself. This dessert was nerve-wracking (baking is so NOT my jam!). But, like all of my other installments, it turned out fantastic. My dish for this final stage was a Tarte Bourdalou: sweet shortcrust pastry holding a vanilla and almond custard which supports poached pears and is garnished with almonds, crushed macarons, a dusting of confectioners' sugar and a crème anglaise.
But you ask yourself, “If baking is not his jam, how did he make this amazing dessert?” Smart recipe sourcing and meticulous attention to detail. That’s all I got. Don’t worry, I won’t keep this knowledge to myself. The beauty of cooking, for me, is seeing the results of your efforts nearly immediately and sharing these meals with my loved ones and friends. So, please come back for more. Yes, there will be more! Let’s learn and take new journeys together. I’m here for you. If you have any questions about cooking, raising kids, or essentially anything but new math, hit me up at info@mangiamccann.com
La Tarte Bourdaloue (Pear Tart)
Adapted from Saveur
Pastry
1 ⅔ cup flour
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
10 tbsp cold butter cut into 40 small pieces (4 sq/tbsp)
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla extract
Filling
1 ½ cups sugar + ¾ cup sugar
4 Bosc pears
⅔ cup blanched, sliced almonds
⅓ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 ⅓ cups milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup flour
2 tbsp cold butter
⅓ cup crushed macaroons
Crème anglaise
You will need either pastry weights or 1 lb of dried beans and a ½ cup of ice water. Prepare the tart crust by mixing the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the pastry cutter (or regular blade if you don’t have the pastry cutter) with about 10 one-second pulses. Then add the yolk and vanilla and continue pulsing the mixture until it looks crumbly and pebbly.
Add 2 tbsp of ice water and mix until the dough holds together; adding more ice water one tablespoon-at-a-time, if necessary, to help the dough coagulate. Remove the dough from the mixer and form a dough ball. Then, gently press into a disc about 2 inches thick. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
While the crust is resting in the fridge, bring 4 cups of water and 1 ½ cups sugar to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat then reduce to low. Meanwhile. peel and halve the pears. Poach them in the simple syrup for about 25 mins, checking them for tenderness with a knife after 20 minutes. Remove and place on parchment paper to cool. Remove core and some of the inner stem chord. I like to leave the actual stem in though for appearance on the final tart, if possible.
While the pears are poaching, combine ⅓ cup of the almonds and the confectioner’s sugar in a mini-food processor (if you have one, otherwise use what you got) and grind for about 5 seconds until everything is powder. In a small saucier, combine the milk and seeds from the vanilla bean and bring to a boil over medium heat. Then continuously whisk in the ¾ cup sugar, eggs and flour until combined and thick, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and add in the almond/sugar mixture and stir in the butter until melted and incorporated. Set aside to cool.
After an hour of chilling (the pie - not you, you’ve been doing great, btw), preheat the oven to 400. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to a 14” round, or as close thereto. If you’re absolutely helpless when it comes to baking, like me, this is the video I used to figure out how to roll dough into a circle...well, almost, the closest thing to a circle I’ve ever achieved. When done rolling the dough out, loosely roll it over your pin and then gently unravel it above a tart pan. I used an 11” tart pan to account for the fact there was no way in hell I was rolling this dough into a 14” round...I got more like 12.5”. Anyway, gently lift the outside edge of the crust and press & tuck the dough down into the pan. Once flat-bottomed, then you can go about pressing the dough lightly into the crinkles of the tart pan. Using a fork, poke holes all over the bottom of the dough to prevent bubbling. Cut, or press, off any excess dough around the edge and place a large piece of foil over the crust, including the edges to prevent burning.
Add the weights or dried beans on top of the foil. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and carefully remove the foil from atop the crust. If you used beans, put them in a jar in your pantry and label them “pie weights”. I just saved you like $14 on a totally unnecessary cooking item.
This would be a good time to make the crème englais.
Once everything has cooled, pour the custard into the crust. Don’t be surprised if you have some leftover custard, especially if you used an 11” or smaller tart pan (the original recipe called for a 12” tart pan, so just don’t overflow the tart!). Then place the pears cut-side down, you may have some pears left over too. Now top with the crumbled macaroons and remaining almonds.
Preheat the broiler and place the rack in the upper third. Broil the tart, closely monitoring, for 2-3 minutes. You don’t want things getting beyond the bronzed stage, i.e. no deep browning. Serve with the crème englais.
Crème Englais
Adapted from Food & Wine, Grace Parisi
2 cups half-and-half or whole milk
Vanilla Bean
½ cup sugar
4 egg yolks at room temperature
In a small saucepan, combine the dairy and seeds from the vanilla bean along with the leftover bean peel, over medium-low heat until bubbles start forming around the edge of the liquid. Meanwhile, pour a layer of ice cubes into a casserole dish and set an aluminum or glass bowl atop of the ice. Set a fine mesh strainer in the empty bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the the sugar and egg yolks until combined. When the bubbles have formed, pour half of the warmed milk into the egg yolk mixture. Whisk until incorporated and then pour the mixture back into the hot saucepan, raise the heat to medium and stir constantly until thickened, about 4 minutes. Then pour the hot contents through the mesh strainer above the bowl sitting atop the ice. This helps stop the cooking process. Let the mixture cool and finish the Tarte.
Copyright 2020, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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