The recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours. It is a recipe that can use just about any fruit you have and Dorie suggests a few in her book, including various stone fruits and rhubarb. These in-season Bosc pears held their shape and tasted sweet and delicious. There are no added spices so you really experience the pure taste of the fruit itself, so it's best to use the most flavorful in-season fruit you can find. The recipe calls for assembling and baking the pear galette for a little while and then pour the custard mixture wherever there is room between pears and bake for a little longer for the custard to set up. Serve the galette while still slightly warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche on the side.
Pear Custard Galette
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours
serves 6-8
For the galette:
Pie Crust for a single crust (I use half of this recipe)
2-3 Tablespoons jam or marmalade, ginger marmalade recommended, but you can use any you like
2 graham crackers, crushed
4-6 pears, ripe but firm
1 Tablespoon turbinado or similar coarse sugar
For the custard:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 425 F. Roll out the dough into a 12-13-inch diameter circle, about 1/8" thick. Transfer the crust to a baking sheet. Lightly score a circle in the center with a 10-inch diameter. You will arrange the filling inside this inner circle. Spread the jam inside the smaller circle and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs. The juicier the fruit you have, the more crumbs you will want to add to absorb the moisture as the fruit cooks. Place the crust in the refrigerator while you prepare the fruit. Quarter the pears and remove the peel and core. Arrange the pears on top of the graham cracker crumbs, cut side down in a circular pattern. Fold the outer circle of the crust up over the edges of the fruit, making pleats as needed until you have brought all of the outer crust up over the edges of the pears. Brush the top of the crust lightly with water or cream, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake the galette for 25 minutes.
While the galette is baking, prepare the custard. Whisk all of the custard ingredients in a small bowl. After the galette has baked 25 minutes, remove it from the oven, but leave the oven on. Carefully pour as much of the custard around the pears that it will hold (you will probably not use all of the custard mixture - I used about half). Bake the galette for another 10-15 minutes or until the custard is set and no longer jiggles. Cool the galette on the baking sheet on a cooling rack for 15 minutes, then transfer the galette to cool directly on the cooling rack. Serve at warm or at room temperature, preferably the same day it is made, with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Pear Custard sounds so good. I love custards and this looks like something I would marry.
ReplyDeleteOhhh that looks yummy - I've been wanting to try to make a pear tart/galette type dessert.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what in the world is going on with your follower section, but every time I click over here I see I've been booted off! I click follow & it either kicks me out or makes me upload a new picture! What in the world?
ReplyDeleteJen, How about I just use that as my excuse for not having more followers...I feel much better now.
ReplyDeleteI am with you re: the number of cook books - and counting! I love BFMHTY. Every time I look at it, I see something new. This galette is exceptional.
ReplyDeleteOooh, this looks so good! I definitely need to try it! :)
ReplyDeleteLet me share this also delicious recipe of Plum Galette
ReplyDeleteFor the amount of sugar needed depends on the tartness of the plums. If all you have are fairly ripe, and therefore fairly sweet, plums, use a little less sugar and add a little lemon juice.
Ingredients
1 recipe pate brisee pie crust
6-8 tart plums, pitted and sliced (about 1 1/4 pounds net)
1/4 cup raisins (preferably golden)
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Zest from one lemon
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
Method
1 In a medium sized bowl, gently toss the plum slices with the raisins, pecans, lemon zest, flour and sugar.
2 Preheat oven to 375°F. If you are using homemade chilled pie dough, remove it from the refrigerator to let stand for 10 minutes before rolling out.
3 Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out the pie dough to a 13-inch round of even thickness.
4 Place rolled-out pie dough in the center of a small-rimmed, lightly buttered baking sheet. Place plum mixture in the center of the pie dough round, leaving a border of 2 inches on all sides. Fold the edges of the pie crust up and over so that circle of the filling is visible.
5 Place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake at 375°F for 40-50 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the filling is bubbly. Cool on a rack for an hour before serving.