Tarte aux Poires à la Genevoise
This buttery pear and raisin tart was traditionally served during Geneva’s Escalade celebrations.
in 1602, on the night of the 11th to 12th December, protestant Geneva was attacked by the Catholic forces of Charles Emmanuel, Duke of Savoy, who ordered his soldiers to climb (escalade) the city’s battlements with ladders.
Much to their surprise, the citizens fought back heartily against the sneak attack, alongside the town’s militia, and managed to defeat the Savoy forces.
The hero of the night was an elderly woman named Catherine Cheynel, known as Mère Royaume, who poured her cauldron of boiling vegetable soup on the head of a Savoyard soldier. Today this is commemorated with chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables, which are sold throughout the city, and many families make a vegetable soup in her honour.
I discovered the recipe in one of my favourite Swiss cookbooks Kochkunst und Traditionen in der Schweiz from Mondo Verlag, which I bought at Bern's Bücherbergwerk (an excellent source for all used books, especially old cookbooks).
It is easy to make—the hardest part is slicing slippery pears—and its buttery crust and juicy filling make it irresistible.
1 package puff pastry dough (around 250 g)
100 g ground almonds
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
around 8 large pears, sliced
150 g raisins
30 ml walnut oil
shot of wine or Williams
100 ml cream
2 tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 220 C / 425 F / gas mark 7.
Line the bottom of a 26 cm (10 inch) springform pan with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough and line the pan. Keep the tart shell cool (preferably in the freezer) until you have the filling ready.
In a bowl, mix together the ground almonds, sugar and cinnamon.
In another bowl, mix together the sliced pears, raisins, and oil.
Sprinkle the puff pastry base with the ground almond mixture, then add the pears.
Pour over the wine or spirit, plus the cream, then sprinkle with sugar.
Bake in the bottom half of the oven for about 30 minutes or until the dough comes away from the side and the pear mixture is bubbling.
The juicier your pears, the juicier this tart will be.
If you don’t have walnut oil, you can use another nut oil, or just a neutral oil like canola or sunflower.
