Recipe Courtesy Chris McDonald, Avalon Restaurant, Toronto.
Ingredients
Pastry Crust
Fruit Filling
Spiced Brown Butter
Marzipan Ice Cream
Assembly
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse until combined. Whisk together yolks and vanilla. Slowly pour yolk mixture into food processor. Pulse just until a ball forms. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.
Spray a 10-inch fluted pan with non-stick cooking spray. Roll out dough to fill the pan. Blind bake in preheated oven until pastry is set and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Toss pears and quince in lemon juice and melted butter. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle fruit with sugar. Bake until soft and golden, about 30 minutes. Set aside to cool. Note the figs do not need to be cooked so they will be added tart shell later on.
Melt butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean and add to butter along with pod. Add cloves, star anise and canella. Cook over low heat for about 20 minutes or until butter mixture turns golden brown, stirring frequently and being careful not to burn the butter.
In a stand mixer or electric mixer, whisk together sugar and almond paste till light and fluffy. Heat milk and add almond mixture, bring to a gentle boil. Turn off heat and allow milk to be infused. Pour milk mixture over egg yolks while whisking. Place this mixture back on the stove and cook over low heat stirring constantly until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Thoroughly cool and chill the mixture. Pour into an ice cream maker. Process according manufacturer’s instructions.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together eggs, sugar, flour and salt in a large bowl. Strain spiced brown butter mixture over egg mixture and whisk to combine.
Pour enough of this mixture to cover the bottom of the tart shell. Arrange pears, quince and figs on top of the filling. Bake until egg mixture has set, about 1hour minutes. Cool for 30 minutes before serving. Serve with Marzipan Ice Cream. Serves 8 to 10 servings.