Tart with smoked cheese, olives and pears

A delicious sweet and savoury tart to enjoy along with a crispy green salad. The original recipe demands the Greek smoked cheese "Metsovone", produced in Metsovo of Epirus region. A delicious and fragrant semi-hard cheese made of cow's or a mixture of cow and sheep (or goat's) milk (with the technique of "pasta filata" or "stretched-curd"). Not sure if you can find this special Greek cheese abroad so any semi-hard smoked cheese can be used, smoked Gouda cheese is a good idea

Recipe of Michalis Dounetas,

from "BHMAgourmet" magazine of "TO BHMA" newspaper

Ingredients (for 4-6 people)

For the pastry:
250gr. of all-purpose flour, sifted
175gr. of cold butter, cut in cubes
15gr. of salt
1 egg

For the filling:
300ml of water
100gr. of sugar
2 ripe but firm pears, cut in 1cm slices
250gr. of smoked Gouda cheese (or preferably Greek Metsovone), cut in 1 cm cubes
1 tsp of cumin seeds
50gr. of Kalamata olives, pitted
100ml of fresh cream (35% fat)
2 eggs
salt
pepper
1-2 tsp of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Method:
Put the flour in a large bowl and work with the butter rubbing them together with your fingers so the dough resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg and the salt and mix until you end up with a smooth dough that doesn't stick to the hands. Wrap with cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, boil in a saucepan the water with the sugar on medium heat until they become a light syrup (meaning thin in consistency). Add in the saucepan the pears and leave to boil for a few minutes until they get tender but not mushy. Gently drain in a colander and leave aside to cool down.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC.

With a rolling pin roll the dough in a round (or rectangular) sheet of 3mm thick and lay it in a tart dish of 26-28cm. Prick the dough with a fork in various places.

Array the pear slices at the bottom of the dough and then continue with the cheese, the cumin seeds and the olives.

Beat in a bowl the eggs with the cream and season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture over the tart and sprinkle with the rosemary.

Put in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until the tart is nicely coloured on top and the cheese melted.