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Ingredients:
Pear Tatin
Serves 6
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
5 ripe-but-firm
pears (2 1/2 pounds)
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
Cinnamon Ice Cream
Makes 2 cups
2 cups half-and-half
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1/2
teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 egg yolks Equipment
Ice cream maker
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By Nicki Dwyer •
Prop Styling by Kathy Curotto •
Photography by Eric Johnson •
Art Direction By Marcella Spanogle
Pear Tatin and Cinnamon Ice Cream
This classic dessert can be cooked in a 9-inch iron skillet or other
heavy-bottomed skillet that can be placed in the oven. Puff pastry tastes best
the day the dessert is made. Serve with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream, either
store-bought or homemade (see the recipe that follows).
Pear Tatin
1. Remove pastry from package. Set on cutting board to thaw. The pastry will
be easier to work with if it is still slightly frozen when you place it on the
pears.
2. Smear butter around the bottom of a 9-inch skillet (see intro).
Sprinkle half the sugar over the butter. Peel, core, and slice the pears into
1/2-inch slices. Starting around the outside edge of the skillet, arrange the
slices in concentric circles on top of the butter-and-sugar mixture. Pack
them in tightly. (You won't use all the pears at this point.) Sprinkle remaining
sugar on top.
3. Preheat oven to 375º. Place skillet on burner and cook
pears over medium-low heat until the sugar mixture begins to turn carmel colored
and thickens slightly. Don't stir pears, just move the skillet around on the
burner so pears cook evenly. This will take about 20 minutes. Fill in with extra
pear slices as the ones in the skillet begin to shrink. You want this to be
tightly packed.
4. While pears are cooking, unroll the pastry and smooth out
the creases. Cut the pastry into a circle to fit the skillet.
5. When pears
are ready, turn off the heat under the skillet and lay the pastry on top of the
pears, pushing it down gently to cover.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove
from oven and set aside to cool slightly. Have a serving plate ready that is
slightly larger than the skillet. Place the plate over the skillet and invert
the tart so it is right side up. Some of the pear slices may have to be put back
in place. (If the tatin isn't carmelized enough, slide it back onto a cookie
sheet and stick it back into the oven for several minutes.) Serve warm or at
room temperature, plain or with cinnamon ice cream.
Cinnamon Ice Cream
Plan to make this the day before you serve
it so it
has time to develop its flavors and harden in the freezer. There is an
easy way
out —around the holidays, Häagen-Dazs makes a cinnamon ice
cream.
1. Combine half-and-half, sugar, and two kinds of cinnamon in a
heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir occasionally over very low heat for 15 minutes,
until milk is just hot to the touch. Do not let it boil.
2. Whisk egg yolks
in a bowl. Pour 1/4 cup of the hot-milk mixture into the eggs, whisking briskly.
Do this quickly so eggs don't curdle.
3. Pour eggs back into saucepan, raise
heat slightly, and cook over low heat, stirring almost constantly, until mixture
thickens and coats a spoon (10-12 minutes). Again, don't let it boil.
4. Pour
mixture into a glass bowl and stir to remove some of the heat. Place in the
coldest part of the refrigerator until it is very cold, covering with plastic
wrap when it is no longer hot. (If you are in a hurry, cool it down faster by
placing the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice and stirring occasionally.)
5. Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze, following manufacturer's
directions. Place in plastic container and freeze for several hours until firm.
This ice cream is best eaten within a couple of days.
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