Pear Tarte Tatin

Thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite holidays, one where I go to great lengths to research and plan a wonderful dinner. Because Thanksgiving dinner tends to be heavy on the carbs, I try to make many tasty vegetable side dishes. I paired the whole dinner with wines from the Languedoc region of France.

My chickens (AKA: The Choir: Alto, Mezzo, and Soprano) provided the eggs (but not the singing) for some of the dishes such as Turtle soup with poached egg Bocuse style.

Alto and Mezzo (Spanish Reds)

Soprano (She is a Dominique, the breed Pilgrims brought to the US)

To make things special for my guests, I like to set a lovely table:

I also like to provide a formal menu:

This is my Turtle Soup Bocuse style:

The meal ended with a choice of two desserts: Pear Tarte Tatin and Pumpkin Pie. Since Thanksgiving has passed, I thought I'd share my Pear Tarte Tatin recipe with you.

Pear Tarte Tatin

For the Brisée:
250 gm Cake flour
125 gm Unsalted, cubed butter
½ Tsp Salt
Cold water

1. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, add the flour and salt.
2. On low speed, add the cubed butter. Mix until it is coarsely combined and is the size of lentils.
3. Pour butter and flour mixture onto a clean surface.
4. Slowly pour cold water throughout mixture. You don't want the dough to be wet; just pour enough so it isn't dry. Pinch the dough to incorporate the water into the flour and butter.
5. Using the palm of your hand, press on the dough and push it away. Do this once per section in order to fully incorporate the water into the dough. Be careful not to smear sections repeatedly so as not to over mix it.
6. Scrape the dough from the surface and gather into a ball. Shape dough into a disk and refrigerate. Remove from refrigerator 15 minutes before ready to use.


For the Pears:
7 Large Bosc pears,  peeled, halved, and cored
120 gm Butter
120 gm Sugar
½ Tsp Salt
1 Vanilla bean, seeded and scraped
4 TBSP Calvados
2 Tsp Balsamic vinegar

1. In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt butter. Keeping the heat on medium, place the pear halves cut side down and brown them. Once browned, gently flip them over to brown the other side.
2. Add sugar, salt, and vanilla bean seeds to the pan.
3. Cover pan, lower the heat slightly, and cook for approximately 10 minutes. Pears should feel slightly soft but not mushy.
4. Uncover pan, turn heat up to high, and caramelize pears until they look mahogany color.
5. When they are of the desired color, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the Calvados in the pan.
6. Return the saute pan to the heat and deglaze. Carefully flambé. (Note: Please don't pour alcohol from the bottle directly into the pan while on the heat. The flames can jump into the bottle and cause an explosion.) When the flames have diminished, add the balsamic vinegar .
7. Remove the saute pan from the heat and put aside to rest, keeping pears and caramel in the saute pan.

To Assemble the Tarte Tatin
1. Roll brisée to ¼ inch thick. Roll it 1 inch larger than the edge of your saute pan.
2. Place rolled dough on top of pears and fold excess inside the edge of the saute pan. (The dough will shrink during baking.)
3.  Bake at 375°F until completely baked and golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes.
4. Carefully flip the mold into a large tray. Be careful of the hot caramel sauce that will come out of the mold.

Voila!!