Roasted Pear Crème Brûlée Tart

Made this for our gourmet dinner club. It was the hit dish of the night. Now let me tell you, it's a lot of fooling around making the darn thing, but it really was yummy.


Pastry:
1  Tbs  granulated sugar
1/4  tsp  salt
4  oz  flour (about 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
1/4  cup  chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2  Tbs  ice water
Cooking spray


Pastry Cream:
1/4  cup   brown sugar, firmly packed
3  Tbs  flour
1/8  tsp  salt
2  cups   2% reduced-fat milk
1  tsp  vanilla extract,
1  lg   egg, lightly beaten


Topping:
1  tsp  fresh lemon juice
1/4  tsp  cinnamon
1/8  tsp  nutmeg
2  med  pears, peeled, cored, and halved
1/3  cup  granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 450°.
To prepare pastry, place first 3 ingredients in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse 10 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor on, slowly add 2 tablespoons ice water through food chute, processing just until dough starts to come together. Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap; press into a disk. Cover and chill 10 minutes
in the freezer. Place dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap; roll dough into a 10-inch circle. Fit dough into a 9-inch round removable-bottom tart pan coated with cooking spray; pierce dough with a fork. Bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare pastry cream, combine brown sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium, heavy saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook over medium-high heat until thick and bubbly (about 5 minutes), stirring constantly. Place egg in a large bowl. Gradually stir hot milk mixture into egg. Return milk mixture to pan; cook 2 minutes or until
mixture reaches 185° and coats the back of a spoon, stirring constantly. Add vanilla. Spread pastry cream onto a baking sheet; cover entire surface with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 20 minutes or until chilled. Spread pastry cream evenly into tart shell; cover and chill at least 2 hours or until set.

To prepare topping, combine juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pears; toss well to coat. Place pears, cut side down, in an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 45 minutes or until tender. Cool completely; thinly slice. Place on paper towels; pat dry with additional paper towels. Arrange the pear slices spoke-like over pastry cream. Cover and chill at least 30 minutes.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup granulated sugar evenly over pears, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Holding a kitchen blowtorch about 2 inches from the top of custard, heat the sugar, moving the torch back and forth, until the sugar is melted and caramelized (about 3 minutes). Serve immediately.


NOTE:I doubled the filling because my tart pan was 10-11", and it was just perfect. However, I did not have enough crust to line the sides of the tart pan, using the larger pan than called for, so the
soft custard did not hold the pie shape wedge. No one seemed to care. The gentleman sitting right next to me gave a big smacker right on the lips, he loved it so much.

You can make this ahead of time, but brûlée the pears just before serving.