INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

The 1970s saw perhaps the biggest change in cooking in this century. That's
when a group of talented young chefs in France came up with "nouvelle
cuisine," emphasizing fresh ingredients, elegant presentation, and
interesting and unusual combinations of foods and flavors. American chefs
quickly imported it and made it into something uniquely their own. For our
take on this landmark in contemporary cooking, we've shaped purchased puff
pastry into individual tartlet, filled them with pistachio frangipane and
sliced pears, and topped it all off with a sweet-wine glaze.
Combine pear halves and 1 cup dessert wine in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape
in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring wine to boil. Reduce heat,
cover and simmer until pears are just tender, turning occasionally, about
10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pear halves to paper towels and
drain well. Boil pear poaching liquid in saucepan until reduced to 2
tablespoons, about 7 minutes. Set glaze aside.
Finely grind 2/3 cup unsalted pistachios and sugar in processor. Add
unsalted butter and egg; blend just until filling is combined. (Can be
prepared 1 day ahead. Cover pears and nut filling separately and
refrigerate. Cover glaze and let stand at room temperature.)
Unfold pastry sheets on work surface; press out folds. Using 4 1/4-inch
scalloped round cookie cutter, cut out four rounds from each sheet. Using 3
1/2-inch round from cookie cutter, cut out one 3 1/2-inch round from each
of four rounds (reserve 3 1/2-inch rounds for another use); set pastry
rings aside. Brush egg glaze over outer edges of four 4 1/4-inch solid
rounds. Pierce rounds all over with fork. Top each with one pastry ring.
Transfer pastries to baking sheet. Freeze 15 minutes. (Can be prepared 1
day ahead; cover and keep frozen).
Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake pastries 10 minutes, piercing centers with fork
if centers rise. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
Spoon 1/4 of nut filling into center of each pastry. Slice pear halves and
arrange atop filling, covering completely. Bake until pastries are golden
brown, about 20 minutes. Cool pastries at least 30 minutes and up to 1
hour. Brush pears with glaze. Sprinkle chopped pistachios around pears.
Garnish with fresh mint leaves and serve.
Bon Appétit November 1993
Posted to recipelu-digest by Sandy <sandysno@pctech.net> on Feb 26, 1998

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