Pears. Pears and cardamom. Have you discovered this amazing taste mixture? I make a Pear Cardamom Butter and it flies off the pantry shelf. Never any left after a week. Dennis will eat it on his pork, pour some on his pancakes, I saw him use it as salad dressing the other day with balsalmic vinegar. (I’ll have to create a new recipe around that.)
I recently saw this Pear Crostata in a Bon Appetit magazine. It uses the same rustic crust as my Apple Pie. I love the unfussy look of these pies. I couldn’t resist making this!
Filling:
1/4 Cup golden brown sugar
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 tsp ground Cardamom
1/4 tsp Cloves
1/4 tsp Salt
2 1/4 pounds firm but ripe unpeeled Anjou Pears (About 4 Cups), cut into eighths
10 dried by moist Calimyrna Figs, stemmed and quartered (About 4 ounces)
Heavy Whipping Cream (For brushing crust)
Raw Sugar
2 T Honey, I got mine from this Honey for Sale online
Preheat oven 400 degrees.
Mix together sugars, spices, cornstarch and salt. Mix in figs and pears. Let stand while you make pie crust.
Roll out pie crust on parchment to help you move the Crostata to the baking dish. Crust should be at least 14 inches diameter or make two smaller pies. Move parchment with pie crust to rimless baking dish (cookie sheet or pizza pan), or large round baking dish. Mound the pear fig filling mixture on top of the crust, leaving a 3 inch border around the edges. Using parchment paper fold over the dough up over the pear filling, pleating the edges, pinching to seal any cracks that form.
Brush crust edges with cream and sprinkle generously with raw sugar.
Bake Crostata for 50-60 minutes until pears are tender and juices are bubbling thickly, cover crust with foil to prevent over browning.
Remove Crustata from oven, and drizzle filling with honey over hot filling. Run knife along the edges of the baking pan to loosen. Allow to cool on parchment on baking pan for 1 hour. Transfer to platter. Serve warm or room temperature.