Savoury Pear, Fig and Cheese Tart — seasonal splendour by Cazador
At Huia, our main focus right now is harvesting the few rows of grapes we have outside the front door but when it rains it pours and the walnuts and figs are ready now too. Busy times and to make the most of the autumnal deliverance, we needed a recipe ASAP so nothing goes to waste. Cue this pleasing dessert by Dariush Lolaiy, Co-owner of Cazador Restaurant in Auckland.
For the last few years, Rebecca Smidt, Co-Owner of Cazador and Restaurant Manager, Simon Benoit have included Huia wine of some variety in their wine programme. Cazador focuses on seasonally available ingredients and sustainable supply to construct their menus - both in the kitchen and front of house. They’re our kind of people.
At the restaurant all of the aspects of this recipe are made from scratch so Dariush rewrote it to make it easy for all of us at home. It’s a dessert but it’s not that sweet which is the perfect finish to a meal.
Somewhat controversially, we recommend pouring yourself a glass of Huia Blanc de Blancs 2017 to go with this. Finishing a meal with a palate-cleansing, crisp glass of bubbles while having your dessert is the perfect way to assist with the digestion. Alternatively, the Huia Botrytis Riesling 2018 is a total sweetie for those sugar hounds out there.
Incidentally, the Huia Blanc de Blancs 2017 is poured by the glass at Cazador right now too (and if bubbles isn’t your jam, they also have the Huia Gewuztraminer on the list) so if you’re in Auckland any time soon, I recommend paying them a visit. The Cazador Deli alone is worth a serious inspection.
We digress. Here’s the recipe x
Savoury Pear, Fig and Cheese Tart
Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry
6 fresh or sundried Turkish figs
1 tablespoon of runny honey
1 fresh pear, sliced
1 tablespoon of mascarpone
50g lightly toasted walnuts
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
100g of your preferred blue cheese, we recommend Spanish Valdeòn
Method
Cut your pastry into two rectangles, fold the edges and blind bake until the pastry is cooked.
Layer the base with mascarpone, pear, honey and sun dried or fresh figs.
Add a handful of blue cheese of your choice, then garnish with chopped walnuts, a few thyme sprigs and a sprinkling of black pepper.
Flash the tart in the oven for a further minute, or until the cheese begins to soften, but don’t let it melt.
Set aside to cool and serve with your favourite wine.