star anise/red wine pear tart

For the crust
2 and 1/2 cups pecans
5 dried dates
scraped seeds from one vanilla bean
pinch sea salt

place all the above ingredients in a food processor and grind it down to a mash. Press this into an oiled tart pan.

Filling:
1 bottle dry red wine (recent version, i used a 2005 wild hog dolcetto)
6 bosc pears
1/3 cup agave
the wood part of the vanilla bean you scraped
1 star anise

Slice pears in half, remove core and then slice them about 1/3".
bring wine to simmer, add vanilla and star anise.
Poach pears in the wine for 20 minutes, then let sit in the wine mixture for several hours. The longer they soak, the redder they become.

Brush:
take 1/2 cup of the poaching liquid and bring back to simmer. Dissolve 1 tbsp kudzu in 2 tbsp water and add this to the liquid, stir well till thickened.


Put the pears in the crust in concentric circles.  Brush with the thickened poaching liquid Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. Brush again when the tart exits the oven and before serving.

we served this yesterday with a cinnamon ice "cream"