Prosciutto Pear Tart
I’ve been dying to make a rustic savory tart using fruit for the longest time. And the time is now. I fell in love with all tarts sweet and savory awhile back, when I acquired my mom’s large fluted tart pan. I recently added a smaller, deep dish version to my collection, but, with this savory tart, I just wanted to try my hand at being rustic and free form and see how it went.
It went ok; my dough was a gorgeous pate brisee (non sugar version of a tart shell) and I rolled it out with relative ease, but somehow it turned a little u-shaped on one end. It was the only hitch to an otherwise perfect and addictive conglomeration of savory and sweet flavors.
I began with pear. To make the move over to the savory side, I started by briefly sauteing the sliced pears in a little olive oil, salt and pepper (plus a sprig of thyme).
The cheese layer was the thing of beauty that would connect the pear to the tart itself. I went with goat cheese, most obviously, but it was my guy who made me incorporate some blue cheese. I tend to shy away from the moldy monsieur blue, but he promised me that a Danish Blue would be mild enough to add a nice tang. He was right.
With the additions of red onion (shallots are fine, but I can’t resist some purple color in my photos), thyme, and prosciutto rosettes after baking, this thing was wild and the flavors worked so perfectly in my mouth. It didn’t last long.
The best part is, once you take a good tart shell recipe (I used this one from the James Beard Foundation), and make sure the fruit to be used as savory is treated correctly (it was a good idea to bring it over to the savory side early), you can adorn this free form tart with your choice of secondary flavors and textures to your own liking.
For me, it was this serendipitous Pear, Goat/Blue Cheese, Red Onion, Prosciutto, and Thyme Tart!
Prosciutto Pear Tart
Ingredients
- 1 Pate Brisee Tart like this one: https://www.jamesbeard.org/recipes/tart-pastry-pate-brisee
For the Tart Filling
- Olive Oil
- 1-2 medium Pears, thin sliced
- 1 medium Red onion, sliced
- 4 oz Blue cheese (Danish Blue is great and mild)
- 8 oz Goat Cheese
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 4 oz. pkg Sliced Proscuitto (Di Parma is a favorite:)
- 1 bunch Thyme (some chopped, some whole sprigs)
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare the Pate Brisee, refrigerate for 30 minutes, and roll out the tart. When ready, set up the tart on parchment paper on a baking sheet.
- Add a little olive oil to a pan and saute the sliced pears for 3-5 minutes on low heat with salt, pepper, and a thyme sprig to soften a bit. Remove pears and set aside.
- In the same pan, saute red onions with a little more olive oil and salt for about five minutes, until softened. Set aside.
- Mix the goat cheese with a drizzle of olive oil, the beaten egg, and salt and pepper and whisk/mix until creamy.
Assemble the Tart
- Brush olive oil over the tart. Spread a layer of the goat cheese around the tart, leaving a two inch border on all sides.
- Squeeze small portions of blue cheese between your fingers and spread in the same small portions evenly throughout the tart (as much or as little as you would like).
- Add the pears around the tart evenly in any pattern you like. Do the same for the red onions.
- Sprinkle the tart with a little salt and pepper and loose fresh thyme. You can add a few additional thyme sprigs onto the tart.
- Take the naked border of the tart by the ends and pull a little, stretching the dough out and bringing it back over the tart. Do this all around the tart. You can press into the dough as if you were making a pie or just fold over naturally.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, after which you can move the tart to a high rack in the oven and broil for just a few minutes to ensure the pastry is done/golden brown.
- Allow to cool in the pan, but you can move the tart via its parchment paper onto a wire rack to cool. Immediately add the prosciutto pieces onto the tart (I wound them up into little rosettes but the shapes are up to you!)
Notes
- I found that using the cheese as a bottom layer helps the other ingredients to stay in place and provides a good flavor base.
- When rolling out the tart dough, place between two pieces of parchment paper and roll out to (rustic) square or desired shape. When finished, remove the top piece of parchment paper and slide the tart and the bottom piece of parchment onto a baking sheet.
- You can make adjustments to the flavor profile in any way you like. I find settling on a fruit that will work as a savory, the type of pairing cheese you’d like, along with onion type if using (leek, onion, red onion, shallot, scallion) will get you started and you can go along from there with any delicious combination you can dream up!