TWD: Rosy Poached Pear (Quince) and Pistachio Tart

Tuesdays With Dorie begins the month of December with Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart. Thanks to Josh’s brother, we have become acquainted with a very nice farmer. Amy runs the Petaluma Bounty Farm and, among other accolades, was featured in this article, “40 Farmers Under 40.” She knows I like to bake and on Thanksgiving she kindly gave me some pineapple quinces, which she thought I would enjoy. I had never worked with quinces before, but since they are a relative of pears, I figured I could use them for this tart. The quince were an excellent poaching fruit: they are not as hard and crunchy as apples, but have more give than pears, so they held up well and sliced nicely. I poached three large quinces and only made one tiny tart, so I will be making quince sorbet with the leftovers (and hopefully posting it).



Last month we had the privilege of posting the recipes out of order, and I will confess that I was a bit wistful for November, as this tart was a bit of a production to make just a few days after Thanksgiving, and I did not have the foresight to divide the labor up over a couple days. In addition to the fruit, there was pistachio pastry cream, a tart shell, candied pistachios, and a glaze made with the poaching liquid. The tart was really lovely, though, and though the pastry cream ended up being my least favorite part, it smelled amazing as the pistachios and sugar steeped in milk. I think the combination of textures in this tart may have been as good as the flavors, particularly the fruit and crunchy pistachios.



This recipe received a 7.5 for Deliciousness and a 4.5 for Effort, giving it an EDR 1.66. If I had a ranking for aesthetic appeal, this is a definite 10 – so pretty. Many thanks to Lauren of I’ll Eat You for selecting this dessert. You can find the recipe here on Lauren’s site and visit the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers thought of this tart.