Bourdaloue Tart

Ingredients:

For the shortcrust pastry:
250g flour
125g cold butter, diced
80g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
1 pinch salt

For the almond cream (Frangipane):
100g almond powder
100g sugar
100g softened butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon bitter almond extract (optional)

For the poached pears:
4 ripe but firm pears
1 liter water
200g sugar
1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of 1 lemon

For decoration:
Slivered almonds
Icing sugar
Instructions:

Preparation of the shortcrust pastry:
In a bowl, mix the flour, icing sugar and salt.
Add the cold butter and mix with your fingertips until you get a sandy texture.
Incorporate the egg yolk and cold water, then form a ball with the dough.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a floured work surface and line a tart mold. Prick the base with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and blind bake for about 15 minutes, until the dough is lightly browned.

Preparation of the poached pears:
Peel the pears, cut them in half and remove the cores.
In a saucepan, bring the water, sugar, vanilla and lemon juice to the boil.
Add the pears and poach over a low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are tender but still firm. Drain and leave to cool.

Preparation of the almond cream:
Beat the softened butter and sugar until the mixture becomes creamy.
Add the eggs one by one, then incorporate the almond powder, flour and bitter almond extract.
Mix until you obtain a smooth cream.

Assembly:
Spread the almond cream on the pre-baked tart base.
Arrange the poached pear halves on the cream, rounded side up. You can slice them slightly without cutting them completely for a fan effect.
Sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Cooking:
Cook the tart in the oven preheated to 180°C for about 25 to 30 minutes, until the almond cream is golden brown and firm.

Finishing:

Leave to cool, then sprinkle with icing sugar before serving.

History of Bourdaloue Tart:

The name "Bourdaloue" seems to have first designated an almond dessert. The pastry chef and culinary historian Pierre Lacam attributes the invention of a cake called the Bourdaloue to the pastry chef Nicolas Bourgoin of the Lesserteur house, established in the early 1850s at 7 rue Bourdaloue, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It is a cake made from crushed almonds, sugar, eggs, starch, cooked and then iced with kirsch.

The pastry chef Fasquelle, first established at 75 rue du Four-Saint-Germain in 1860, moved ten years later to 7 rue Bourdaloue, thus succeeding Lesserteur. Some sources attribute the creation of a Bourdaloue dessert to him. But the recipes vary greatly depending on the source: sometimes it is an almond cake filled with kirsch frangipane and iced with chocolate ice cream; sometimes a fruit dessert8, the fruits used being sometimes pears, sometimes apples or apricots, and the only common point being the use of a mixture based on chopped almonds. The Larousse Gastronomique describes it as "composed of poached Williams pear halves, drowned in a vanilla frangipane cream, covered with crushed macaroons, and iced in the oven." Its variation in the form of a tart may be later.

The name "amandine" seems to historically designate tartlets based on frangipane, with or without fruit. The modern acceptance of "tart amandine" seems to be synonymous with the Bourdaloue tart.