Daring Bakers: November 2010, Crostata!

I've been meaning to make an exciting tart in an exciting pan, but those are one of those hard to make for one and hard to bring to a department to share.  You need a reason for them.  And then it was the Daring Baker's challenge for November.  Well, crostata was, where crostata is a traditional Italian tart.  And I'm home for Thanksgiving, so I figured it was perfect.  The challenge was figuring out a filling, since it's November and not much is in season.  I ended up going with an Anjou pear and pecan filling because it was as seasonal as I could get.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. 

The recipe is here, and I used version 1.  I caramelized some pears as the filling.  I thought it was a little heavy on the pecans, but still good.

Caramelized Pear filling

4 Anjou pears, cut into slices (I didn't peel them and we barely noticed)

4 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

splash brandy

2 Tbsp pecans

Cook the pears in the butter until the start to brown, then add sugar, brandy and pecans until they pears are soft to a fork.  The whole process took about 20 minutes.