As promised, here is the grand finale to Winston's wonderful Passover feast: the flourless but no less delicious almond-pear torte. Believe me, you'd never know the flour was missing!
Almond-Pear Torte
Makes one 9-inch torte. No flour or leavening so good for Pesach; at other times you could replace some of the almond meal with whole-wheat flour.
olive oil
1 pear
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup and 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar
1 cups almond meal
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange or other liqueur
dash of salt
Set oven to 325’ and lightly oil a 9” cake pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper large enough to cover the bottom and sides of the pan and fit to the pan and lightly oil and sprinkle teaspoon of sugar across bottom of pan.
Core and quarter pear and quarter those pieces and fan pieces in a circle in the pan.
Beat the egg whites and dash of salt just until they form soft peaks; beat whites first because you need a completely clean bowl, and transfer to another bowl.
Then beat egg yolks and sugar for 1½ minutes. Add almond meal, vanilla, and liqueur and mix briefly until combined.
Take bowl off mixer and use spatula to mix in 1/3 of whites into the batter to lighten it and then add remaining whites and gently mix until completely integrated, and pour over pear slices in pan and gently even out with spatula.
Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown. Place dish over pan, invert, and peel back parchment slowly to reveal pear pattern. Serve warm or reheat slightly before serving later.
