September Evening Pear Tart

Tonight we are off to visit my lovely friend Lisa. We used to see each other every Monday evening, but lately life has got busy for both of us, so we decided to make it every other Monday evening instead. Then along came a bank holiday, a family birthday and a holiday (the latter hers, not mine, alas!) and it has been a while since we saw each other. So tonight will be an evening of much chattering, crafting and dining. We both love to cook and create, and happily her and Carl know each other from school, so he always feels part of things, which of course, he is.

Lisa is roasting a chicken for dinner, and I have been trying to decide what to take for dessert. Something transportable, autumnal, delicious. Well I had a potter and a play, and this is what I have come up with...I will let you know if it is delicious after we have tried it!

September Evening Pear Tart

Early on a September evening, when the sky is already fading as though it has been swept over with a muslin curtain, set the oven to hot, 200 oC or so. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry onto a baking tray, and trace a border with a sharp knife about 2cm from the edge, taking care not to cut right the way through.

Rummage in your cupboard and find the leftover marzipan from the Ruby Anniversary cake you made earlier in the year. Grate it over the pastry base, avoiding the boarder as best you can. Take two Green William pears, halve and core them. Then slice them so that each half fans out prettily. Nestle them amongst the sea of marzipan.

Scatter over the top a good sprinkling of brown sugar, then grate over some nutmeg and shake over some cinnamon.

Gild the frame of the tart with a splash of milk.

Post the tart into the oven for about 20 minutes whilst you wash up, and boil the kettle for a cup of tea, whilst looking out of the kitchen window and marvelling that already the view has turned to a silhouette.

When the tart is cooked, take it out, then drizzle with some melted bitter chocolate. Spatter about as though recreating a Jackson Pollock painting. Smile and decide that it needs just a hint of gold edible glitter....realise you have run out so give it a dusting of 'disco hologram white' instead.

Enjoy warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or some creme fraiche. Idly wonder what it would be like with roasted figs and mixed spice instead....