French Pear Tarte Tatin

I think pretty much everyone has heard of an apple tarte  tatin. It is a quintessential French dessert that is unique in that the fruit is cooked in a pan in a caramelized sauce, a crust is placed over the top, and after it is baked the whole thing is flipped onto a plate. Well, I have made apple tarte tatin. French or not, I hate to say that I was unimpressed. I am not a big fan of American apple pies either, and the French version did not wow me. But then I tried a PEAR tarte tatin, and honey, that's when Cupid's arrow hit! Not exactly in my heart, but lower, toward the tummy region...I have to say, as a child I would have gagged and winced if you offered me anything with the word pear in it. My experience with the fruit was a bland mouthful of grit. But now that I am older, I have come to love pears. Anjou pears are my absolute favorite, and they come in both spring green and a gorgeous  wine red. If they are perfectly ripe the flesh is sweet and velvety. If they are hard, then they are perfect to roast and cover with caramel sauce HERE, to make into pear dumplings (which I need to show you), or to make this delicious tarte tatin. Now that cold weather is here, (it's in the 20's today, folks, with ice on the steps!) this is a perfect dessert to warm both hearts and tummies! Just so ya know, there will be an ingredient list- only five things- at the bottom, and all of them will be highlighted as we go along :)

You will need a sheet of puff pastry, thawed, for this recipe. And you going to need a 9 or 10 inch oven-safe skillet. Cast iron is always my pan of choice. Peel, quarter, and core 6 medium firm pears. Anjou or Bosc are great. If you use ripe and ready to eat fruit, it will go to mush as it cooks and not be a nice dish. Toss the pear quarters in a bowl with 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar, and 2 Tbsp lemon juice. Now melt 5 Tbsp butter in your skillet.

Arrange your pear pieces in the pan so that they can all fit in a single layer. It's okay if only sections of the fruit are actually touching the pan, or if ends stick up. As they cook they will soften and slump, and fit all together as you can see in the picture below.

When you have all the fruit in the pan, turn the heat down very low, and simmer gently for an hour and 20 minutes. Yes, you read that right. In the photo above, do you see brownness creeping up the sides of some slices? As the individual pieces caramelize, flip them over.

The pears will become soft and golden and the syrup around them will bubble up into a beautiful caramel! This smells absolutely ravishing while it cooks, and you can be preparing your meal as it simmers away in all it's golden glory. After this has been cooking for an hour, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

When your pears have cooked for the full amount of time, take our your thawed sheet of puff pastry. Gently roll it out an bit bigger than the circumference of your skillet. Then use a 10 inch plate or pan as a guide to cut it into a circle.

Center it over the skillet and lay the crust over the top of the fruit. Then tuck the edges down around the fruit like tucking in a blanket over a pile of beloved children. I did this with the blunt tip of a butter knife. Work quickly, because the heat will cause the pastry to immediately begin to soften. Put the skillet into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until well browned.

See above how the caramel has continue to bubble, coming up over the sides of the pastry? Yum! And below you can tell that the crust is done because it is golden brown, and the flaky layers have puffed up hugely. Like a souffle, this will deflate.

You are going to let this rest for 5 minutes before inverting onto a plate to serve. Now, the instruction just say to turn it onto a plate with a lip "to collect the juices". I was uncertain what to use. I wanted to put it on one of my lovely platters for presentation, but I was also afraid of putting something that was literally boiling onto one and having it heat-crack. I was also worried about the turning over of a heavy cast skillet and possibly chipping an antique platter. So my first time I used a funky old melamine plate that I didn't care about. IT DID NOT HOLD ALL THE CARAMEL! I flipped the tart and lost a lot of my lusciousness on the counter- cue the salty tears. To invert, use a plate larger than the skillet, set this on top of the pan, and then quickly flip over. Do this over the sink in case you have an explosion. I would add that it is good to hold the plate with a potholder, as it will instantly get warm. The picture below shows it after I attempted to clean the exploded sauce off the edges.But let me tell you, ugly or not, this dessert was amazing!!

So amazing that I promptly made it again the next week, this time opting for a super heavy ironstone plate with a wider rim. Still not happy with it, but better. And honestly, you can tell from the pictures that this is a super rustic looking dessert, so don't expect it to be a gorgeous showstopper- that is, until you put it in your mouth! And please, please, have some vanilla ice cream to go with it. I'm begging you. Even homemade whipped cream would be an injustice. And I hope that you eat it as soon as you turn it out. The crust will still be slightly puffed, the contents will be an inferno of delight that you have to temper with equal bites of ice cream. Heavenly! You can wait, Dear Reader, but the texture changes. Not bad, just different. I know this because I came back for more as soon as I had inhaled the first slice. The crust had completely fallen and was more regular pastry texture then puff. But still very good.

Fall and winter are the time for pears in all their humble glory. I hope that you will try this at least once. And dream of being in the French countryside, admiring a quaint chateau shaded by trees in autumnal colors, a warm plate of pear tarte tartin in your hands. The beret is optional ;)

For this recipe you will need-
9 or 10 inch oven-safe skillet
one sheet of thawed puff pastry (the best way is to simply leave it in the fridge overnight to thaw, and not remove it till the moment you need it)
6 medium firm pears
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
5 Tbsp butter
*and I'm adding vanilla ice cream as a "must have" ingredient

Bon Appetit!