Red Wine Poached Pear, Ginger and Golden Raisin Rustic Tart and dinner with AJ’s brother

Red Wine Poached Pear, Ginger and Golden Raisin Rustic Tart

By Irvin Lin

Cutting and poaching pear chunks in the red wine before baking the tart is a nod to the poached pear dessert that seemed to be everywhere in the 90s. Though the poached pear meal ender isn’t quite as common as it used to be for dinner parties, adding spices to the wine (a cinnamon stick, some candied ginger) gives the wine a nice holiday mulled flavor and adding a free form crust elevates the poached pear to an elegant yet casual dessert that can be thrown together with common household ingredients. One thing to note, the tart dough needs to chill for a minimum of 2 hours ahead of time (or overnight if that’s more convenient), so take that into account as you plan ahead.

Freely adapted from This is a Cookbook, Recipes for Real Life by Max Sussman and Eli Sussman

Ingredients
Tart Dough
2 1/2 cups (350 g) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 g) granulated white sugar
pinch of salt
1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, cold
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup ice water

Filling
3 medium pears (firm but ripe)
1/2 cup (85 g or 3 oz) golden raisins
1/4 cup (50 g) candied ginger, diced into 1/4 inch pieces
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons bold red wine, divided
1/4 cup (50 g) white granulated sugar
1/4 cup (55 g) dark brown sugar
2 tablespoon honey
2 cinnamon sticks, about 2 inches long
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon (18 g) all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Crust finish
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon white granulated sugar

Special equipment
Rimmed baking sheet
Parchment paper or silpat
Pastry Brush

Directions
1. Make the tart dough by placing the flour, sugar and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Cut the salted butter into 1/2 inch cubes and sprinkle over the dry ingredients. Toss the butter cubes with your hands to coat, then squeeze the cubes of butter until they flatten out. Continue doing this until the rest of the butter has been reduced to smaller bits and flakes, squeezing and tossing the dry ingredients until the dough starts to resemble crumbly cornmeal with bits of butter still in flattened chunks. Add the egg yolks and sprinkle the water over the ingredients and, using a large spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry. As the dry ingredients become more moist, work the ingredients together with your hands, until it comes together and forms a dough. If the dough seems too sticky soft, sprinkle a little flour into it. If the dough seems to dry, add a little more water. Once formed, gather into a ball, flatten into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Make the filling by peeling, coring and chopping the pears into 1/2 inch chunks. Place pear chunks, raisins and ginger in a medium sized pot, along with 3/4 cup red wine (reserving the 2 tablespoons for later), both sugars, honey, cinnamon sticks and vanilla extract. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring frequently and reducing the liquid until it starts to look syrupy (about 10 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the pears, raisins and ginger into a heatproof bowl, reserving the liquid in the pot. Mix the flour and the reserved two tablespoons of wine together in a small bowl until the flour has dissolved. Add to the wine syrup and cook for another two minutes over medium heat, until the syrup had thickened and is no longer cloudy. Remove from heat, add back the pears, raisins and ginger and allow to cool to room temperature.

3. Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375˚F and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper or silpat. Roll the dough out to a rough 12-inch circle and place on the parchment paper. Pour the pear filling into the middle of the dough, discarding cinnamon sticks and spread evenly, leaving about a 3-inch border around the filling. Fold the dough over, pleating the dough to make it a nice decorative circle, all the way around, leaving about a 5-6 inch opening in the center of the tart.

4. Beat the egg white and water together until foamy, then brush the top of the pastry (and under the pastry where the pleats are, to help seal them together) with the egg wash. Sprinkle the white sugar over the dough edges. Bake in the oven for 25 -30 minutes or until golden brown at the edges. Let cool at least 10 -15 minutes for the filling to set up before serving.

Makes 1 tart, serves 8 people.