Did your filling just outrageously fail and now you’re stuck with a blind baked empty base with nothing to go in it? Panic no more! I’ve got just the filling for you. Keep in mind that you will need some pears (apples will also do), blue cheese (Roquefort is very nice) and walnuts. I hope I might just persuade you into choosing this recipe over whichever other filling you have in mind – because this one is so much easier to make, plus it tastes amazing.
|| Pear and Roquefort tart
Crust
Ingredients
125 grams salted butter, melted
90 grams of caster sugar
1 egg
250 grams flour
Preparation
Mix the flour with the sugar, melt the butter and incorporate the egg. Combine this into the dry ingredients, and kneed just until everything is mixed together. Let set in the fridge for at least one hour or preferably overnight. Roll the dough out on a floured surface, as thinly as you can, and fit it into the pan. Trim off the sides by gently passing the blade of a knife at a 45º angle. Rest in the fridge for an extra 30 minutes as this prevents the dough from shrinking while in the oven. Blind bake in a pan of your preference, at 190°C (don’t forget the weights – like dried beans or chickpeas – and parchment paper). This recipe is great and there’s always plenty leftover – feel free to stick the rest in the freezer for future use or for a second tart.
Filling
(for a 20cm tartlet base)
8 thinly sliced pears (I used a mandolin)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
90 grams Roquefort (or any other blue cheese)
50 grams walnuts, chopped
Preparation
Sauté everything in a pan, until the pear reaches your desired consistency. Fill the tart shell with the fruit, scatter some Roquefort and let melt in a hot oven (200°C) for about eight minutes. Chop and top off with the walnuts, and bite into a fruity cheesy dessert. It’s like a cheese platter, but in a tart version.
By Megan Melling
Megan Melling’s journey into the food world started three years ago when she decided to enrol in Cookery and Food Production in Portugal. She was born American, but grew up in the Algarve, so she gets the best of two opposite culinary cultures. She is currently working as a cook in Lisbon and documenting all of her personal recipes on her blog www.melsvittles.wordpress.com
