Pear, goat's cheese and macadamia tart

Babiche Martens

Finish a dinner party with this pear and soft goat’s cheese tart. For something a little punchier, a blue cheese would be divine. This tart is not too sweet, so allow yourself a bigger slice with a generous dollop of cream.

For the pastry

180 g	Flour
80 g	Butter
¼ cup	Icing sugar
1	Egg yolk
2 Tbsp	Cold water

For the filling

150 g	Goat's cheese (Main)
2 Tbsp	Caster sugar
1	Egg
½ cup	Macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
2	Pears, sliced thinly (Main)
½	Lemons, juice only
2 Tbsp	Butter, melted
2 Tbsp	Caster sugar
1 sprinkle	Mint leaves

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 180C.
2. Into a food processor place the flour, butter and icing sugar. Blitz until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and water, mixing again until your dough is formed. Roll on a lightly floured bench to fit a 23cm tart tin. Bake blind for 20 minutes, removing the paper for the last 5 minutes.
3. To make the filling, mix together the goat's cheese, sugar, egg and half the nuts. Spread over the base of the pastry. Arrange the sliced pears in a circle around the outside of the tart, working your way to the middle. You should have enough pears to do two layers. Squeeze over the lemon.
4. Brush the pears with the melted butter and sprinkle over the sugar. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes until the pear is soft and slightly brown around the edges.
5. Serve warm with mint leaves and lightly whipped cream.

More decadent dishes from Angela

• Baked brie in a sourdough loaf
• Crayfish and parmesan spaghetti