Pear Cranberry Tart

I am sure most of you have been in the situation where you had an event to go to, needed to bring a dish to pass, and were very short on time. This was my dilemma last weekend. I wanted to bring something awesome since we were going to the house of friends who really know how to cook, and I had been thinking I could write about what I made. But, with so little time, how could I make something totally from scratch or totally great? My husband and I debated over whether using pre-made dough counted as something worthy of blogging about. We decided that as long as the majority of the thing was not pre-made (i.e boxed mixes), and I didn't do it that often, it was ok. I finally decided on a pear cranberry tart recipe, that uses pre-made dough for the crust, that I found in the February issue of Bon Appetit (a wonderful magazine that my mother-in-law so kindly let me steal from her).

First, you halve, core and chop up 2 ripe pears. This was something new for me as I don't normally eat fresh pears - there is something about the texture and the skin that bothers me. Therefore, I didn't know how to pick out a fresh pear. I also didn't know how to core a pear. Good thing my husband was with me! He showed me how to pick out a not too soft pear, one with just a little give and showed me how to cut around and under the core of it, saving as much pear as possible.


After the pears are chopped, you saute them for a few minutes, add some sugar, dried cranberries, cranberry concentrate and, according to the recipe, some jelly. I, however, added lemon curd instead of the jelly since we had some I had been wanting to use, and I thought it might taste good. According to the recipe, the mixture should get thick a few minutes after adding the concentrate. I let mine sit for more than a few minutes because it was not thickening. I re-read the recipe and realized I was only supposed to use 2 tbsp of concentrate, rather than the whole can I dumped in! I was in such a hurry, I didn't even think that a whole can didn't sound right when I dumped it in. Some quick thinking and a strainer saved the day, though!


Once the fruit mixture is ready, you cool it, pour it over the rolled out pre-made pizza dough, sprinkle with sugar (I also added cinnamon) and bake. I served this tart warm and with a scoop of ice cream. It went over very well with our friends, who couldn't guess it was not totally from scratch, and would never have guessed I almost messed it up. When I told our friends the crust was made of tube pizza dough, they were quite surprised but said it explained the slight crispiness to it. We each ate a quarter of the tart, it looked and tasted so good. My friend even licked her plate clean! That seems like quite high praise for such an easily made thing. I would suggest this tart for any time you need quick, crowd pleasing, all season recipe (you could change the fruit per what is in season).



Recipe:

1 tbsp butter

2 large Bosc pears (halved, cored, cut into 1/2 inch cubes)

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup dried cranberries

2 tbsp frozen cranberry juice concentrate, thawed

1 tbsp currant jelly

1 tube refrigerated pizza dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Line heavy rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper

Melt butter in nonstick skillet over medium heat

Add pears and saute until almost tender

Sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar, toss and cook for 1 more minute

Add cranberries, juice concentrate, jelly

Saute until pears are tender and juice gets thick, about 3 minutes

Scrape pear mixture onto plate and freeze for 5 minutes

Unroll pizza dough onto prepared sheet

Cut 1 inch wide strip off end forming a 9 inch square out of dough

Pull dough strip till twice its length and cut in half crosswise

Scrape pear mixture into center of dough square and spread to cover, leaving 1-2 inch border

Fold up border over edge of filling and place 2 dough strips diagonally over filling

Press ends of dough strips to border to adhere

Sprinkle with 1 tbsp sugar

Bake until golden brown and cooked through, about 22 minutes