The combination of juicy seasonal pears encased in sweet, buttery pastry is a welcome addition for any home in winter.
Pear galette
Serves 8
Sweet pastry
1½ cups flour
1½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
125g butter, cold, cut into cubes
⅓ cup ice water
Filling
6 fresh pears or apples, peeled and cored
2 Tbsp sugar
¼ tsp ginger
1 Tbsp good-quality honey
1 Tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp ground almonds, walnuts or cornflour (this is to absorb some of the moisture)
Method
To make pastry: In a food processor, combine the flour with the sugar, salt and butter and process for about 5 seconds. Sprinkle the ice water over the flour mixture and process until the pastry just begins to come together, about 10 seconds; you should still be able to see small pieces of butter in it. Transfer the pastry to a work surface, gather it together and pat into a disc. Wrap the pastry in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes. However, if you are impatient, you can roll this pastry out straight away as it is a rustic-looking tart so you can just get away with it.
Peel, halve and core the pears and slice them cm thick. Place in a bowl along with the ground almonds/walnuts or cornflour, and the ground ginger, toss to combine.
Preheat the oven to 200degC.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to a 20cm by 25cm rectangle and transfer to a large-rimmed baking sheet. Spread the chopped pears over the pastry to within 5cm of the edge. Drizzle the honey over the chopped pears. Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the pears and dot with the pieces of butter. Fold the pastry edges up and over the pears to create a 3-4cm border.
Bake the galette for about 35-45 minutes, or until the pastry is nicely browned and crisp and all of the pears are tender.
Transfer the tray to a cooling rack and let the galette cool a little. Serve warm or at room temperature.
• Alison Lambert, chef at the Otago Farmers Market, will demonstrate this recipe at the market on Saturday morning.
