It has been quite a while since I posted a recipe to this blog. Almost over 4 months now. Sometimes it happens that life is so quick, exciting or even at time demanding, that one needs to set priorities. In my case, it was both demanding due to a new job I got last year, but also I didn't have the inspiration or the thrill that I used to get before. I felt like I needed more time to myself, to care for my mind and body, spend time with friends, travel and generally experience life. Not to say that I don't love making recipes and sharing them with you guys.
Which is why I have a brand new recipe that I made yesterday and it has a special ingredient I haven't used before. Marzipan is made of almonds and is simply an almond paste that is used to make sweets. I first encountered it when I was living in Stockholm and I first tasted some of their marzipan based sweets. In all honesty, those sweets can be found also at IKEA, but I didn't really taste the ones there. Also, after some googling, it seems that the Italians, and mostly the southern Italians, also use it in their sweets. For me it was an interesting ingredient to work with and the result was better than expected!
The recipe is adapted by the book The Scandi Kitchen, which is a great cooking book to have if you enjoy the Scandinavian food and the simplicity sometimes that exists in their cuisine. The actual recipe calls for Glögg, which is similar to Glühwein or Mulled wine. In another words, a spiced and slightly sweetened wine. I didn't have any mulled wine in my pantry, so I had to introduce some of the spices myself and I share this recipe as well with you. Otherwise, you can skip this part and use a spiced wine.
Also, another slight modification I did was to use a round cake pan instead of a tart pan that was required for this recipe. I know, that's not the best thing to do, when you're trying to recreate a recipe. But I often miss one or two ingredients and I have to substitute them. I don't suggest it to you, though, as this recipe is much better for a tart pan, especially during baking.
Tart with wine poached pears and Marzipan filling (adapted from Scandi Kitchen)
ingredients
for the pears
3 medium sized pears
500ml red wine
2 star anise
3 to 4 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon
for the dough
1 egg
150gr cold butter
220gr all purpose flour
40gr sugar
1 teaspoon water
for the marzipan filling
150gr marzipan (in pieces)
100gr butter in room temperature
100gr sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
60gr flour
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or powder
to serve
almond flakes (toasted)
sirup from sweetened cherries
How do I make it?
1. First step is to make the dough. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and put it in a food processor along with flour. Pulse for half a minute to incorporate well. Then, transfer to a bowl of a standing mixer, add the sugar and egg and mix well until a sort of dough is created. Add the teaspoon of water, mix again and stop. Use your hands to shape the dough into a ball, making sure that you slightly kneed it to incorporate every last piece of flour or other ingredient left on the bowl. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge.
2. Now, make the pears. In a large pot pour the wine and the spices and cook on low heat. Peel and core the pears (cutting them in half) and place them in the pot. Close the lid of the pot and once it starts boiling, let it boil for a few seconds and then close the heat. When the wine has stopped boiling open then lid and let the pears cool down. I took the pot outside in the balkon and that sped up things quite a bit.
3. Take the dough out of the fridge. Next thing is to make the marzipan feeling. Place the smooth butter in a bowl of a mixer again and beat until smooth for about two minutes on medium to high speed. Then, pour in the sugar and beat for another one minute. Add in the marzipan pieces in three doses and beat well. Last add the flour, eggs, cocoa powder and vanilla essence and give it a good final beat until you have a smooth creamy filling. Set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Take the dough, flour a clear surface and roll out the dough into a round shape. Don't worry it doesn't need to be be perfect. Place the rolled out dough into a tart pan or a cake pan like I did. Make sure to place any excess dough in the sides of the pan. With a fork, pinch lightly the bottom and sides of the dough. Place a baking sheet on top of the dough and fill it with almonds, cashews and any other nuts. This step is optional. You can also place baking beans or any other "heavy" legume, nut, to keep the baking sheet in place and prevent the dough to rise too much. Bake the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly golden.
5. Take the dough out and let it cool for 10 minutes. Then, pour inside the marzipan filling evenly to the surface of the dough. Cut the pears into thin slices and place them in group of four to five slices on top of the filling creating a round pattern (as pictured here). Bake the tart for 20 to 25 minutes, or if you use a cake pan for 30 minutes, until the filling is set in the sides and middle.
6. Let it cool before serving for about 10 to 15 minutes. Decorate with some toasted almond flakes and drizzle some cherry sirup on top. Enjoy with some milk or a cup of coffee.
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