Pear and Almond Tart...

So, a few months ago, mom, in anticipation of my visit home, asked me to find a "good French pear tart recipe." As luck would have it, the first one I tried, from epicurious.com, was spot on.
As it so happens, after I found this recipe, smittenkitchen, a fabulous blog for you foodies, did a whole thing on it- how to photos included. LOVE smittenkitchen.

So, when I visited my parents, I made one almost immediately and we've done a bit of tweaking for our own version of this now-family-staple.

Pear and Almond Tart

Derived from Bon Appétit, February 2005

Pears
4 cups water
1 cups sugar
½ a lemon
3 medium-size firm but ripe Bosc pears, peeled (yes, they HAVE to be Bosc because they don’t get as mushy)
¼- ½ cup brandy (optional, but oh so great)

Crust
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup blanched slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

Almond Filling
1 1/3 cups blanched slivered almonds
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 egg white
Powdered sugar (optional)

For pears:
Bring 4 cups water, sugar, and lemon juice to boil in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add pears. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until pears are very tender, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes. Cool pears in syrup. Can be made 2 days ahead, covered and refrigerated.
For crust:
Blend powdered sugar, almonds, and salt in processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter and blend until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Mix in egg yolk. Add flour. Using on/off turns, blend until dough comes together in clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 3 hours. Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.

For almond filling:
Finely grind almonds and flour in processor. Mix in 7 tablespoons sugar, then butter, blending until smooth. Mix in egg. Transfer filling to medium bowl. Cover and chill at least 3 hours. Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Assembly
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375°F. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork (12 times on the sides, 14 in the center, don’t ask). Freeze crust 10 minutes.

Line crust with buttered foil, buttered side down, then fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake crust until sides are set, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake crust until sides are golden and bottom is set, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 10 minutes longer. Cool crust in pan on rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

Spread almond filling evenly in crust. Stem pears and cut each in half lengthwise; scoop out cores (a melon baller is handy for this). Cut each half crosswise into thin slices. Slide spatula (or large knife used to slice them) under pears and arrange atop filling like spokes of wheel with narrow ends in center. Gently press each pear half to fan slices but keep slices tightly overlapped (this is advanced tart making, you can leave them unfanned). Note: The original recipe has these two steps in reverse, but I find it easier to fiddle with the pears when they are already anchored in the filling.
Bake tart until golden and tester inserted into center of filling comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool tart in pan on rack. Push pan bottom up, releasing tart from pan. Note: Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Sprinkle with powdered sugar (which you so don’t need because it will be overly sweet), if desired, and serve, preferably with freshly whipped cream flavored with some of the liquid from the pears (I’ve actually not tried this, but doesn’t it sound lovely?).

Enjoy!