Apple and Pear Tart with Brown Butter Custard
I have just returned from a lovely few days in central west New South Wales. We were based in Orange, a wonderful town with some amazing restaurants and cafes. We also visited the townships of Carcoar, Molong and Millthorpe. I picked up some great produce, including some beautiful fruit from Hillside Harvest in Borenore, 10 minutes from Orange.
Apples and pears feature in a short crust pastry tart, with a brown butter custard, this latter I picked up from a Stephanie Alexander recipe. And to complete the tart I cooked a few raspberries into a sort of a jam to put on top.
While making your own pastry is a bit of a faff, it really isn't that hard and I do tend to use the food processor! But if you don't want to make your own pastry, use shop bought instead.
For the short crust pastry
225g plain flour
60g cornflour
¼ teaspoon salt
85g icing sugar
140g butter, cold and cubed
1 free range egg, beaten
2 tablespoons ice cold water
For the brown butter custard
125g butter
2 free range eggs
100g caster sugar
1 tablespoon plain flour
2 pink lady or other red apples
2 pears (or just use all apples if you like)
100g raspberry jam, home made or bought - optional, for serving
To make the pastry, sift the flours, salt and icing sugar into a food processor. Add the cubed butter and pulse until the mixture is like breadcrumbs. Add the egg and the iced water little by little until the pastry just comes together. Don’t over mix!
On a lightly floured board, bring the pastry together into a ball then shape into disc. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the custard, put the butter into a small saucepan over a medium heat. Melt the butter until it is golden and foaming, Remove from the heat. Whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until thick and pale. Add the plain flour. Stir the melted butter into the egg mixture.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.
Lightly grease a fluted tart tin with a removable bottom. Use a circular flan tin, 23 or 24cm in diameter. I used a rectangular tart tin, 31×21cm.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and on the floured board, roll it out to the desired shape and drape over the tin, easing it carefully into the tin. Line with baking paper and fill with baking weights or rice or beans.
Bake blind for 20 minutes, then remove the baking weights and paper and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven.
Slice the apples and pears, removing the cores. No need to peel, particularly if you like the red skin of the apples.
Lay the apple and pear slices in rows, or how ever you like, on the pastry. spoon the brown butter custard over the fruit. Turn the oven down to 160°C fan. Put the tart back in the oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the custard is golden brown and puffed.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Spoon the raspberry jam on the tart if desired. Serve in thick slices, at room temperature, and a little pouring cream would be delicious!