Pears Stuffed With Roquefort And Walnuts In Pastry Recipes

CARAMELIZED PEAR AND ROQUEFORT TART

Steps:

• To make the crust, put the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until ground. Add the flour, sugar and salt and pulse just to combine. Add the butter and pulse until most of the butter is incorporated into the flour. Add the yolk mixture and pulse until the dough begins to come together. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic. Chill.
• To make the filling, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add half the pears to the skillet and saute until browned on both sides, about 8 minutes. Remove the pears from the skillet and repeat with the remaining pears. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll out the dough between large sheets of plastic wrap and fit it into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Cover with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and weights and bake the crust until it is golden, about 7 minutes more.
• Arrange the pear halves in a circle over the dough, core side down and wider end toward the edge of the pan. Fill in the center with more pears. Crumble the cheese over and around the pears.
• Whisk together the half-and- half, sugar, egg yolks and flour. Pour over the pears. Bake until the custard is set, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, simmer the port in a small saucepan until it is reduced to a syrup. While the tart is still warm and just before serving, brush the port over the pears. Cut into wedges and serve.

PEARS BAKED WITH ROQUEFORT CHEESE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Combine the walnuts, cheese and lemon juice in a bowl, mashing the ingredients together to make a paste.
• Peel, halve and core the pears. Stuff the cavity of each pear half with a spoonful of the Roquefort mixture, mounding it up slightly. Place the stuffed pears in a shallow baking dish and pour the wine around them.
• Bake about 30 minutes, until the pears are tender. Allow to cool about 20 minutes before serving.

PEARS STUFFED WITH ROQUEFORT AND WALNUTS IN PASTRY

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Mash together cheese, bread crumbs, walnuts, and pepper to taste with a fork. Freeze mixture just until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Scoop out center of bottom of each pear with large end of a melon-ball cutter, then continue to remove core to make a 1/4-cup cavity. Fill each cavity evenly with cheese mixture and seal bottom with a small piece of bread.
• Roll out pastry 1/16 inch thick into a 15-inch square on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut dough into quarters to make 4 equal pieces.
• Stand 1 pear in center of a pastry square and brush pear all over with egg. Bring 1 corner of pastry up toward top of pear, pressing it against pear to adhere. Repeat with adjacent corner, then generously brush extending pastry fold with egg before pressing closely against side of pear. Repeat process with remaining 2 corners. Fold top points of pastry 1/4 inch down (see photo) and brush with egg. Transfer wrapped pear to a buttered large shallow (1-inch-deep) baking pan and chill while wrapping remaining pears (make sure pears are 5 inches apart in baking pan).
• Chill wrapped pears 30 minutes.
• Bake pears in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until fruit is just tender when pierced with a knife and pastry is golden and cooked through (pastry will shrink a bit). Cool pears at least 15 minutes before serving warm or at room temperature.