Foodie Friday: Pie

Someone asked for a dessert recipe, but the truth is that I rarely make dessert. I am so much of a fronch fag that I usually make do with a slice of cheese or a piece of fruit or just another glass of wine. But on occasion I do make a little something sweet, and this may be the best, easiest tarte you can make: a little sweet, quite salty, and topped with the sour note of homemade crème fraîche. You'll need:

for the filling

3 large, soft, sweet pears (like Anjou), peeled, cored, and cubed
3 large, crisp, firm apples (like Fuji), peeled, cored, and cubed
1 cup raw sugar
1 stick sweet cream unsalted butter
zest of 1 lemon

for the crust

1 cup AP unbleached flour
1 cup pastry flour
2 sticks chilled butter, diced
about 1 tbspn sea salt
1 cup raw whole almonds
1 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

for the crème fraîche

1 cup buttermilk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup active culture plain whole milk yogurt

The crème will take a whole day to make, so start it in the morning. This staggeringly complex recipe requires that you combine the ingredients, mix for a couple seconds, and then let it sit at room temperature for 6-8 hours.

To make the filling, melt the butter in a heavy sauce pan. When just bubbling, add the sugar and stir well. You are not making a caramel here; you just want the sugar and butter to warm and brown together for a few minutes. At that point, add the apples, pears, and lemon zest, stir together well and let cook over a low heat for about an hour.

Remove the fruit from the pan with a slotted spoon and fill the bottom of a ceramic pan leaving perhaps a half inch of depth for the crust.

To make the crust, first pulse the almonds in a food processor, then add the flour butter, salt, and oil. Pulse again until the butter is evenly distributed. Pour the loose mixture out of the food processor into a bowl and begin squeezing it together in your fists. It will form a clumpy, crumbly mixture, almost like a fine gravel. Spread this mixture evenly over your fruit until the filling is totally covered. Bake in a 400 degree oven until golden brown on top. Serve warm drizzled with the crème fraîche.