Rustic Cranberry Pear Tart

Hello and happy holiday season!  I've been a slacker, no excuses, but have been stockpiling ideas so trying to get back into my groove before the end of the year rolls around.

Here is another rustic tart I think you are going to like.  Since both pears and cranberries are in season, I thought I might let them hang out together in a quick to make dessert.  Great for gifting or just tearing into with your loved ones (if you so inclined to share).

Rustic Cranberry Pear Tart

tart dough
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
6 oz. (1-1/2 sticks) cold butter, cubed
1/3 cup cold water

4 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. flour

filling
2 pear, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 cup whole cranberries
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

To make the crust:

Mix together 1-1/2 cups of flour with the cinnamon and salt.

Cut in the cold butter cubes with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture forms pea-sized crumbs.  You can also put ingredients in a food processor and pulse on low until it crumbs.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the water.  Using your hands, knead the ingredients together until they form a ball.

Roll out onto a floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.  Roll out with a rolling pin to a thickness of approximately 3/8".

Cover a large cookie sheet or pizza pan with parchment paper.  Use the rolling pin to roll up your flattened dough and transfer to the papered surface.

Mix together the remaining 2 tsp. flour with the sugar and sprinkle across the surface of the dough.

For photos of the how-to process, click here.

For the filling:

Mix together pear slices, cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon, then pour into the middle of the rolled out crust, spreading it out evenly.

Fold the edges of the crust over the edges of the filling.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour until edges are browned. Remove from oven and allow to set for a minute before serving.

NOTES

The tart is not overly sweet, the cranberries provide a nice tart flavor to offset the milder pears.

You can serve hot, cold, or at room temp.  With a bit of French vanilla ice cream on the side, you cannot go wrong.  

Herby Pork Chops with Peach Salsa

 

For those who subscribe for auto post notices, sorry about the double email on Sunday.  Got a notice the first time I hit publish that it didn't go through.  Apparently that was a big fib. :/

Anywho...still rolling with that what's-in-season thing.  Since you have to buy peaches in batches at the Farmer's Market and I had some leftover, I thought I would try to do something savory with them and this is what I came up with.

Herby Pork Chops with Peach Salsa

chops
6 thick boneless pork chops
salt and pepper to season
1 tsp. olive oil

herby mix
1/4 cup fresh chopped thyme
1/4 cup fresh chopped sage
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
4 tsp. olive oil

peach salsa
2 cups fresh peach, peeled and rough chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. fresh mint, finely chopped

Mix together the peach, red onion, lemon juice and fresh mint.  Cover and set aside to let the flavors hang out for awhile.

Rinse and dry your helps, then chop finely.

In a small bowl, mix them together with the olive oil.  Let sit while you prep the chops.

Lightly sprinkle your chops with salt and pepper.

In a hot skillet with a little bit of olive oil, brown the chops, 2-3 minutes per side, over medium high heat.

Remove from skillet and place in a baking dish.  Distribute the herby mix evenly over the tops of the chops.

Place pan in oven on top rack.  Cook at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.  Then set oven to broil and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from oven and let stand for 1-2 minutes.

Serve up with a generous scoop of peach salsa and your favorite sides.

NOTES

Because it is ridiculously hot outside these days, we chose NOT to grill, but you could adapt the recipe/cooking to do it outside.

You want to make sure your salsa is at room temp before serving so that you are not putting cold peaches on a hot chop (sorry Dad).

While they go great together, I was informed by my favorite guinea pigs that both the chops and the salsa would be able to stand on their own merit.

Summer Berry-Peach Tart

 

More fun with blackberries!

For the GNO brunch last weekend I promised to bring a fruit salad so went to the Farmer's Market that morning to gather some seasonal ingredients.  Made a mixture of blackberries, blueberries, peaches, fresh chopped mint and honey.  It came together really nicely, so nicely that I thought "you know, this would make a great pie filling too."  But instead of a pie, I decided to do a tart, with some finely chopped pecans (to give it a little crunch) and cinnamon crust...mmm mmm mmm!  Experimental cooking can be so much fun (especially when it turns out the way you crossed your fingers for).

Summer Berry-Peach Tart

crust
1-1/4 cup flour
3-4 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 tbsp. cold butter, cubed
1-1/2 to 2 tbsp. water
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
sugar to sprinkle

filling
1-1/2 cups whole blackberries
3/4 cup blueberries
1 medium peach, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp. fresh mint, finely chopped
1-1/2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. sugar
1/8 cup pecans, finely chopped

Mix together flour and cinnamon.  Add in pieces of butter and incorporate using a pastry blender or fork until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.  You can use your fingers, but I find the heat from my hands will start to melt the butter and make it less malleable.  Yes, I have hot hands in the kitchen.

 

Starting with 1 tbsp. of water (and adding more as needed in 1/2 tbsp. measurements), bring mixture together until it forms a soft dough ball. Will take some kneading so be patient.

Wrap the dough in plastic or wax paper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

In the meantime mix together the fruit, mint, honey and sugar.  Set aside.

When the dough is ready, roll out and transfer to a lightly greased tart or springform pan.  If you use a springform pan make sure to press it up along the edges to form a short ridge to hold the filling.

Sprinkle the chopped pecans along the bottom and press into the dough.

Pour the fruit mixture into the tart pan and spread out evenly.  Fruit filling will be higher than the sides of tart pan when you pour it in, but not to worry, it will cook down.

Place the tart pan on a cookies sheet.  As an easy-to-clean-after precaution, I had put a sheet of foil down in case of fruit juice spillage.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove tart from oven and brush edges with egg yolk.  Sprinkle with sugar and bake another 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool tart pan on a rack.

Once pan is cooled, remove tart and place on a serving dish.  Or cutting board if you're going to jump right in on that.

Serve with your favorite ice cream or a decorative dollop of whipped cream.

NOTES

I forgot to put my cinnamon in the flour to start with, but you can fold it into the dough after it's mixed, will just give it that marbled effect.

To get my pecans finely chopped, I just threw them in a food processor for about a minute.

For the mint, rinse and dry the leaves.  Then the easiest way to chop them is to chiffonade them -- roll them together into a long "tube" shape and then cut along the short end.  Will give you small "ribbons" of mint.

You could substitute other fresh berries in this dish, I just chose blackberries because I adore them and because all my fruits are currently in season.

Whatever fruit combo you use, you want to make sure they all have the same cooking time (for example, apples take longer to cook than berries so would not work with this unless partially cooked to begin with).

I served my torte with caramel honey frozen Greek yogurt.