Sub Rosa - Pear Rosemary Tart with Port Chocolate Sauce

Pear Rosemary Tart with Port Chocolate Sauce

Pix Patisserie is a local temple of desserts in Portland, Ore. and chef Cheryl Wakerhauser is the high priestess. This is just one of her delightful treats. Her non-coconut almond macaroons are also to die for. We were drawn to this recipe for several reasons. We love pears, we love rosemary and the chocolate port combo is always killer. Below is long list of components and the instructions for final assembly of the tart.

Sorry for the measurements in grams. This recipe came to us from a decidedly European source. We have a kitchen triple-beam scale, so measuring grams is doable, but we hope to make this enough times to translate it to tablespoons and ounces at some point. I mean really, how many egg yokes make 100 grams anyway?

Pate Sucree

	100 g. egg yolks
	65 g. heavy cream
	1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
	720 g. all purpose flour
	5 g. salt
	325 g. icing sugar (fine, not powdered)
	545 g. European style butter, COLD

Mix first three ingredients and set aside. Mix dry ingredients and butter with paddle on low speed until mixture resembles coarse sand. DO NOT OVERMIX! Add liquid ingredients and mix JUST until mixture comes together. Dump onto table and frisage once or twice until smooth. Rest in refrigerator.

Cashew Cream

	250 g. butter
	250 g. sugar
	4 eggs
	250 g. ground cashews (can be done in food processor)
	50 g. pastry flour

Cream butter and sugar. Slowly add eggs. Stir together cashews and flour, and then fold into egg mixture.

Pears Flambe

Peel two firm medium green pears ( Bartlett or Boxc work fine) and cut into 1 cm. cubes. Prepare a dry caramel in the bottom of a shallow pan with about 300 g. sugar. Stir in pears. Cover and cook until pears soften. Add pear brandy and flambe. Pour out onto baking sheet to cool.

Rosemary Ganache

	240 g. heavy cream
	10 g. fresh rosemary leaves (no stem)
	320 g. milk chocolate, chopped
	Pinch s ea salt
	25 g. European style butter

Bring cream and rosemary to a simmer. Remove from heat, cover and let infuse for 15 minutes. Return to a boil. Strain out rosemary and pour cream over milk chocolate. Run through a food processor until smooth. Add salt and butter and process again until smooth.

Dried Pear Decor

Cut firm pears very thin with a Madeline. Soak overnight or at least 1 hour in a solution of 75% simple syrup with 25% pear brandy. Place in a single layer on a wire rack. Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours or until dry.

Port Chocolate Sauce

	100 g. milk chocolate
	100 g. Don Pedro Ximeniz 1975 Gran Reserva (or a high quality Tawny Port )
	25 g. sugar
	20 g. Butter

Melt chocolate. Heat Don PX and sugar just to warm and dissolve sugar. Stir into chocolate. Stir in butter. Serve warm.

Assembly

1. Partial bake 3 1/2 inch tart shell with pate sucree in a 350-degree oven. When bottom starts to brown, add approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons cashew cream and 5 pieces of flambed pear. Return to the oven and cook until cream is set and just starting to brown.

2. While tart is warm, brush cashew cream with Don Pedro Ximenez 1975 Gran Reserva.

3. Prepare rosemary ganache (or slowly reheat if set up) and fill remainder of tart shell to cover pears and cashew cream.

4. Optional garnish: dried pear décor and a fresh rosemary sprig.

5. Serve on plate drizzled with Port Chocolate Sauce and a fruity, high quality olive oil.

Source: Cheryl Wakerhauser - Pix Patisserie - Portland, Ore.

Sub Rosa Recipes
Desserts