Pear Tart With Burnt Hazelnut Ice Cream

FILLING
1/2 c Unsalted butter
1 c Granulated sugar
8 Bartlett pears,
— slightly under-ripe
Butter (for greasing)

Yield: 6 – 8 servings.

Combine flour and sugar in food processor and pulse to mix. Cut
chilled butter into cubes and scatter over dry mixture. Pulse until
mixture resembles coarse meal. Beat in egg yolk with motor running
and process until pastry just binds together. Turn dough out, knead 3
turns, bring dough together and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30
minutes or for up to 8 hours. To prepare filling, peel, core and
quarter pears. Butter a 10″ pie pan 2 ” deep. Melt the butter in a
large frying pan. Add sugar and shake pan to combine butter and
sugar. Cook over medium heat until caramel turns a deep, tawny brown.
Immediately add the pears. Cook, shaking the pan until pears are
brown and tender and juices are reduced. Transfer browned pears to
prepared pan. Cook caramel 1-2 minutes to thicken, taking care not to
burn. Pour caramel over cooked pears in pie pan. Roll out chilled
pastry into a circle slightly larger than the pan. Place pastry over
the top of pears. Trim pastry flush with rim of pan. Tuck pastry into
pan, and slash in several places. Bake in middle of 400 oven 30
minutes. (Check after 20 minutes, and cover loosely with foil if too
brown). Remove tart from oven. Let stand 30 minutes. Invert onto
platter. Pear tart is best if served within 4 hours of baking.