The other week I chanced to bring home some nashi fruit. As the first whispers of winter’s approach reach us, it was nice to taste something so bright and sweet. I decided to make some sort of nashi pastry, mostly to give myself an excuse to buy a whole heap. I mostly followed this recipe, though I made the pâte sablée from Michel Roux’s pastry book.
I expected the high water content of nashi pears to be an issue, so I was careful to dry them thoroughly after poaching. Still, the tart was quite wet, so I drew some of the liquid out with a towel. I didn’t foresee the size of the pears to be a problem, but looking at it now, they could have been sliced a bit more elegantly. Between these two things and my probably under-creamed frangipane, the centre of the tart cooked much more slowly than that around the rim. Luckily, it’s still delicious to my unrefined palate, served with a drizzle of the poaching liquid, reduced to a syrup.