Pastry Chef Megan Ketover Gets Creative in Her New Gig at Khora

Photograph by Lance Adkins

Megan Ketover remembers spending hours as a kid figuring out how a pastry bag works. What would frosting look like coming from that star-shaped piping tip? She stuck to those childhood dreams, and Ketover’s résumé today includes stints on Bravo and Food Network cooking shows. She’s been the executive pastry chef of acclaimed downtown restaurants Orchids at Palm Court and Boca, and this fall she began as pastry chef of Khora, fronted by Louisville-based restaurateur Edward Lee and Cincinnati native and executive chef Kevin Ashworth, inside downtown’s new Kinley Hotel. What does she have in store? Expect the unexpected. “It’s not going to be just a standard menu,” she says. “I don’t want to do things I’ve already done in the past. I love to evolve and create new things.”

Caramel Pear Streusel Tart

To Make the Caramel:

3/4 C sugar
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp water
1/4 C heavy cream
pinch salt
41/2 Tbsp butter

1. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and water and bring to a boil.
2. Cover and boil 2 minutes. Remove cover, and cook over medium heat, not stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes until deep golden amber color.
3. Carefully stir in cream and salt, followed by butter. Chill.

Photograph by Lance Adkins

To Make the Tart Dough:

1 C flour
2/3 C oat flour
2/3 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
11 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
1 egg
2 Tbsp cream
1 tsp vanilla

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or break into smaller pieces with your hands until mixture resembles cornmeal.
3. Add in egg, cream, and vanilla, and mix until just combined.
4. Roll dough between parchment to 1/8-inch thick, and chill.

To Make the Streusel:

7 3/4 Tbsp butter
1/2 C brown sugar
3/4 C flour
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 C almonds, chopped

1. Brown butter over low heat until solids turn a deep golden brown.
2. Combine remaining ingredients, and drizzle in butter.
3. Mix until crumbly.

To Make the Filling:

4–5 pears
Zest of 1 lemon
2/3 C sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp clove

1. Peel and slice pears. Rub lemon zest into sugar with your fingers.
2. Combine sugar mixture with pears, lemon juice, cornstarch, and spices.
3. Allow to macerate for 20 minutes, then drain liquid into a small saucepan.
4. Cook liquid over low heat, stirring continuously until it thickens.
5. Add fruit back in.

To Assemble:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line tart shell with dough.
2. Add a layer of caramel to the bottom. Top with fruit almost to the top. Top with streusel.
3. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden brown. Makes one 10-inch round tart, one 14-inch rectangle tart, or 8 to 10 individual tarts.