brunch

I've only had a pear tart once.
It was at a fancy brunch in Seattle.
The tart was tasty and every fall since that one I've craved a bite of it.

For our fifth anniversary, Nic and I finally went on the Honeymoon we'd never had.
We returned to the city we became friends in. Seattle had always been good to us.
We had heard rave reviews about an awesome brunch.
It's awesomeness was only exceeded by it's expensiveness.
So we banked on it's reviews and decided to use it as our anniversary splurge meal.

We made our reservation weeks in advance.
We had to leave our hotel early.
We had to travel by taxi, bus and then ferry to get there.
We were expecting BIG things from this awesome brunch by the sea.

It was over-hyped and way over-priced.
It was essentially an upscale buffet, o.j. not included.
And just by looking at me, you may not be able to tell-
but I'm not a buffet type-of gal.

Nearing four-years later the bitter taste of pricey food has left my mouth.
However there remains a sweet-little memory morsel that was worth every penny:

You see, perhaps the most redeeming quality of the brunch was it's selection of fresh sea food.
While I was off gathering tarts (I suppose), Nic was off gathering shrimp.
We sat and talked (probably about how over-priced it was.)

We had been talking and eating for about 15 minutes.
As fate would have it, a lull in our conversation happened as an old-mans chuckle drifted loudly our way.
I glanced at his tabled and noticed a plate piled high with translucent, pink, shrimp carcasses.
I instantly stared at Nic.
Then down at his plate, which had been whittled down to two shrimp.
AND NO CARCASSES.

It's not like he'd never eaten shrimp before.
But apparently he'd never eaten shrimp with a shell-on before.
I asked him "Gross, didn't it taste crunchy?"
His response "Well yeah. But I just figured that's what fresh shrimp tasted like."

The meal was way-over priced, I cannot stress this enough.
But the image of Nic dipping a plate of shelled shrimp in cocktail sauce and eating them will always delight me.
So like I said, worth every penny.
Oh and the pear tart wasn't bad either.

glazed-almond-pear tart cookies

I made these cookies back in the Fall, you know clear back when pears and harvesting were all the rage. These cookies were pretty tasty, if you like pears. There is no way around it, you don't like pear then you won't like these. I like the idea of a pear tart cookie, but I would still tweak the shortbread-like tart crust used. I may even consider using a full on sugar cookie dough instead. I'm kind of high- maintenance, when it comes to cookies at least. It's not worth eating, if it's not as tasty as could be. 

glazed-almond-pear tart cookies

almond tart (dough):

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup frozen butter

1 large egg yolk

1. Mix dry ingredients. 

2. Cut frozen butter into small pieces.

3. Using either a pastry cutter or two forks incorporate butter and dry goods until incorporated.

4. Pulse in egg yolk with food processor until dough ball forms.

5. Once ball forms, roll dough onto surface and gently incorporate any unincorporated bits.

6. Roll out tart dough and cut into desired shape. I used regular muffin tins, but you could do mini.

almond pear glaze:

canned pears (I blanched fresh ones, don't waste your time! USE CANNED.)

6 Tablespooons butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup almonds

3 teaspoons flour

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 large egg

1.  Mix all ingredients (except pears) in food processor until smooth.

2. Spread almond cream on top of prepared tart dough.

3. Slice pears into long thin pieces that can be fanned out on each cookie.

4. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of each cookie and place a few almond slices on top.

5. Bake at 375 for 17-20 minutes until tart dough starts to brown around the edges.

6. Remove from oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar.