PEAR AND LEMON TART

Warm pears, a little lemon surrounded by flaky pastry and of course a generous dollop of cream would make this pretty much perfect!

Makes 4 tarts

6-8 pears or apples

60 g butter

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp grated fresh nutmeg

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp cornflour

1 Tbsp lemon juice

4 sheets puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

Sugar for sprinkling

To serve

Icing sugar

Whipped cream or vanilla icecream to serve

Method

Preheat oven 180C

Peel, quarter and core the pears then slice into 1 cm thick wedges.

Heat the butter in a large fry pan or pot and add the sugar, nutmeg and the pears.  Cook over high heat for 10 minutes or until the pears are tender but still holding their shape.  Combine the cornflour and lemon juice until smooth then tip onto the pears and stir to combine.  Cook for 1 minute to thicken the juice.  Set aside.

To assemble: Cut out 4x 16 cm circles of pasty (side plate) and place on a lined baking tray.  Divide the pears with their thickened syrup between the circles, leaving a 2cm boarder around the edge.  Brush the border with the beaten egg then fold the pastry to pleat.  Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with the sugar.  If time place the tarts in the fridge to harden the pastry for 30 minutes.  If you haven’t got the time then bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the pastry is well cooked and puffed and golden.

Serve warm with plenty cream or ice cream.