You just have to look at any cooking show, the display window of any pâtisserie or any cookbook on baking to realise how popular this tart is. It encompasses everything that a tart should be: rustic and appetising, very easy to make, and still delicious or even better the day after, for breakfast (as is the French way!), with a cup of coffee. The beautiful balance between the different textures of soft fruit, fluffy almond cream and crumbly shortcrust have ensured that this tart has remained unchanged for more than a 100 years and remains one of my favourite tarts to make when cooking at home.
Pear and almond tarts are commonly called tarte Bourdaloue, even though the original version was actually made with poached apricots. A French baker is credited with its creation at the end of the nineteenth century. His bakery was situated on a street called Rue Bourdaloue … and hence the name.