TWD—My Pear Pistachio POM Phyllo Tart (The 4 P’s Tart)

I couldn’t do it.  I just couldn’t make Dorie’s Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart for TWD this week, which was chosen by Lauren of I'll Eat You. (You can get the recipe there.) BUT, I did make a more healthy version of the same idea so I could at least play like I was participating.  I hope it counts!  Sorry, Lauren, after all the festive food from Thanksgiving, some of it still lurking around here, I just couldn’t make something laden with pastry cream and sitting atop the delicious Sweet Tart Dough we all know and love.  Not to mention that since I don’t drink or even cook with wine/alcohol, I decided this recipe just wouldn’t happen here.

Have I said BUT yet?  Here’s the deal.  I made a tart.  Four inches of a tart with a phyllo dough crust, pears and pistachios, so really, I think it should count.  I really wanted a reason to use the little tart pan I got recently and it was perfect.  The only thing that isn’t so perfect—my broken camera.  Really—driving me nuts!  I would never claim to take wonderful pictures, even with my broken camera.  I actually don’t know anything about photography and I know I even commit the cardinal food photography sin of using flash, but I do think somehow I was taking pretty okay pictures.  Well, now I’ve been “forced” to use this little digital camera we have and I just can’t seem to get a decent picture.  Sigh.  Anyway, here’s the tart in all its non-glory.

For the record—it tasted quite good!  After baking it for only 10 minutes, I decided to call it good, but in hindsight, I do think it could have used another five minutes or so, the bottom was just a little soggy.  I also realized with the dough hanging down the sides as it was, that after it baked, it was just a little stuck to the tart pan.  Butter the tart pan next time, sides and all!  I wrote down a “recipe”, if you call it that.  I sautéed an Anjou pear in some clarified butter, then added a little sugar to sweeten it up and caramelize it.  I then added just a touch of POM juice (that was my “alcohol”) to the pan.  I layered the tart pan with six 5x5 inch buttered layers of phyllo dough, then put the slightly cooled pears in the tart, sprinkled on some pistachios and almonds and threw a few POM arils on top.  It was a fun experiment.  Tomorrow I want to make Spanakopita with the leftover phyllo dough because I have a huge tub of spinach.  I don’t really care for feta cheese, anyone ever heard of or made it with any other kind of cheese—ricotta? cream cheese?  I can even handle goat cheese, but just don’t care for feta.

My Pear Pistachio POM Phyllo Tart, by Katrina

6 sheets of 5x5 inch Phyllo dough

1 Anjou pear, peeled and cut into cubes

2 tablespoon clarified butter

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

small amount of pistachios and almonds, toasted and chopped

POM arils for sprinkling over top

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  To clarify butter, melt in small saucepan and skim off the foam with a spoon.  Let cool.  Spoon 1 tablespoon of butter into medium sized skillet.  Once that is hot, sauté the pears over pretty high heat, stirring frequently for about six minutes or until pears are golden brown.  Sprinkle the sugar over the pears and cook for just a minute until the pears are glazed.  Add the POM juice and stir pears.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Carefully brush one sheet of phyllo with butter, add the next sheet and brush it lightly with butter and continue with the remaining sheets, layering them on top of each other.  Lay the phyllo sheets in the tart pan, trimming edges to however you want them.  Place the pears in the tart, sprinkle with nuts and arils (you could sprinkle the arils on after the tart bakes).  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Could serve with a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Can’t wait to check out some of the other TWD tarts out there this week.  Anyone else freaking out that it’s December?  Anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?  That’s right---cookies!   ;)