Ingredients
Crust:
6 oz. Walnuts
¼ cup Sugar
½ cup Flour
5 Tbsp. Butter
Filling:
8.8 oz Mascarpone Cheese
2 Eggs
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
½ tsp. minced Thyme
3 – 3.5 oz. Blue Cheese
Other:
1 ripe Pear
3 Tbsp. Water
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1/3 cup Port
❃❃Serves 4 – 12❃❃
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350, spray a 13” x 4” tart pan with non-stick cooking spray and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Place the tart pan on the baking sheet.
Mix lemon juice and water together. Slice pear in half, remove seeds with a melon baller and cut out stem with paring knife. Slice the pears into even slices leaving the halves intact. Place pears in water so they do not brown.
Mince thyme, melt butter for crust, crumble blue cheese and ensure that the mascarpone is soft enough to mix with the eggs.
Add walnuts to a food processor and chop until the consistency of course flour.
Crust
Add chopped walnuts, sugar, flour and melted butter together. Press evenly into the tart shell on the sides and bottom. Bake for 25 minutes then remove from oven and let cool slightly. Turn the oven up to 400.
Filling
In the bowl of a mixer, or with a hand mixer, mix together mascarpone, eggs, salt, pepper and thyme. Once mixed stir in the blue cheese crumbles.
Tart
Remove the pears from the water and lemon juice and pat dry with a paper towel. Fan the pears in three diagonal sections across the length of the crust. Evenly pour over the filling ensuring that you do not overfill the tart pan.
Cook the tart for 25 – 30 minutes, on 400, until the filling is set and a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cover with foil while you reduce the port.
Port Reduction & Assembly
Add port to a small saucepan and cook on medium-high heat until it begins to thicken slightly and reduces by half.
Remove the outer ring of the tart shell, place tart on a serving plate and evenly drizzle the tart with the port reduction. Slice into desired widths and serve.