Pears are probably my favorite winter time fruit after the apple. My favorite pear is the Bartlett because it is firm, crisp and very sweet; though they are too firm to be used in desserts or other cooked recipes. Pears can be eaten right off the core, baked into pies and cobblers, made into a chutney, soup, or turned into jam. If you store the fruits well, they'll keep for several months in the refrigerator. I store apples and pears in the fridge in the same plastic bag they came in, except I press out as much air as I can and spin the bag so that the opening is closed at the top. Even though aging fruit gives off nitrogen, what makes them rot faster in the fridge is the exposure to moisture and oxygen.
This is a simple pear cobbler recipe. If you would like to add a variety of other colors and textures, then up to 1/4 unsweetened dried cranberries or raisins, raw or lightly toasted pumpkin seeds can be added to the filling or the streusel-like topping. If you don't care what color the pears are after baking, you may add lemon juice to the pears
Ingredients
2-3 lbs ripe anjou pears, chopped into 1/2" slices
up to 2 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened or cut into chunks
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine chopped pears, granulated sugar, nutmeg, and optional items. Mix well so that the pears are evenly coated with sugar and spice and everything nice.
2. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, butter, and brown sugar. Cut the butter into the flour so that it resembles coarse crumbs, or something.
3. In an 8" x 8" baking pan, add pear mixture and top with the oat mixture.
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream
It was debatable between Martha Stewart's or Alton Brown's recipe for this, about which method to use. Frankly, while the number of eggs I would have to sacrifice for a quart of delicious ice cream would be about the same, Alton Brown's would have had me hatch open a jar of peach preserves for two tablespoons of the stuff. The closest to preserves (not jam) that I have is peach marmalade which I picked up from Portland Nursery's apple tasting event last fall. While I am tempted to make the AB version, it wouldn't couple well with other uses of ice cream such as in rootbeer floats or ice cream sandwiches. And, the way June is looking at the moment (very cold and wet), it doesn't look like there'll be locally grown peaches at the farmer's markets any time soon.
Since I wasn't about to sacrifice two beans for this, I used one vanilla bean plus one tablespoon of vanilla extract. Also, refrigerating the "custard" overnight didn't seem to make the ice cream churn any faster in the ice cream maker. Leftover egg whites freeze really well and can be used later in other recipes.
Don't toss the vanilla bean pod parts after you finish making the cream base. Wash the bean pod clean and set aside to air dry. When the pod is completely dry, immerse it into honey or sugar to make vanilla honey or vanilla sugar.
Ingredients
1 vanilla bean
2 c. whole milk, chilled
6 egg yolks
3/4 c. organic granulated sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Directions
1. Pour milk and cream into a heavy-bottomed pot. Split the vanilla bean down the middle and use a knife blade to scrape out the tiny black seeds. Add the seeds and the pod to the milk/cream mixture. Bring to a boil then turn off heat and let the pod steep for 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until the yolks become thick and pale yellow.
3. Temper the egg mixture by gradually adding 1/4 cup of the hot cream and whisk to combine. Repeat until the cream mixture is thoroughly incorporated into the egg mixture. Whisking or beating with an electric mixer with a balloon whisk attachment.
4. Pour liquid back into the pot and heat until it thickens. When the liquid is able to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and let cool on the stove.
5. Using a fine mesh sieve, pour the cream mixture into a container large enough to accommodate it all. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator until the liquid temperature is 40 degrees F, or chill overnight.
6. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Since I wasn't about to sacrifice two beans for this, I used one vanilla bean plus one tablespoon of vanilla extract. Also, refrigerating the "custard" overnight didn't seem to make the ice cream churn any faster in the ice cream maker. Leftover egg whites freeze really well and can be used later in other recipes.
Don't toss the vanilla bean pod parts after you finish making the cream base. Wash the bean pod clean and set aside to air dry. When the pod is completely dry, immerse it into honey or sugar to make vanilla honey or vanilla sugar.
Ingredients
1 vanilla bean
2 c. whole milk, chilled
6 egg yolks
3/4 c. organic granulated sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Directions
1. Pour milk and cream into a heavy-bottomed pot. Split the vanilla bean down the middle and use a knife blade to scrape out the tiny black seeds. Add the seeds and the pod to the milk/cream mixture. Bring to a boil then turn off heat and let the pod steep for 30 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar until the yolks become thick and pale yellow.
3. Temper the egg mixture by gradually adding 1/4 cup of the hot cream and whisk to combine. Repeat until the cream mixture is thoroughly incorporated into the egg mixture. Whisking or beating with an electric mixer with a balloon whisk attachment.
4. Pour liquid back into the pot and heat until it thickens. When the liquid is able to coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat and let cool on the stove.
5. Using a fine mesh sieve, pour the cream mixture into a container large enough to accommodate it all. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator until the liquid temperature is 40 degrees F, or chill overnight.
6. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.
The Spice Route by John Keay
"The human body needs minerals, notably salt; but pepper, the most substantially traded of all spices, is a dietary irrelevance. One might live a perfectly healthy life without ever ingesting, inhaling or otherwise being exposed to any one of the desiccated bits of vegatation that have traditionally been considered spices. Nor are they addictive in any physiological sense. The withdrawal symptoms might be evinced at times of scarcity were purely social and economic."
Blueberry Sorbet
With less than two months until peak blueberry picking season, I managed to turn about half of my frozen cache into a tasty dessert. This would be a delightful alternative to ice cream if the gods of global warming would turn on the sun this weekend. I don't own a blender, so I used a 7-cup Cuisinart food prep for this and I didn't bother straining the seeds from the frozen blueberry pulp.
If you prepared the blueberries before freezing, they should already be picked over, washed, and clean. No idea what vanilla extract does to the taste, but I imagined that it would smooth out the sweetness between the simple syrup and the blueberries.
Ingredients
2 quart-sized bags of frozen blueberries
1 tbsp vanilla extract (optional)
1 c. water + 3/4 c. organic granulated sugar
Directions
1. In a small pot, heat water and sugar together until it boils; then let it simmer for a couple minutes. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.
2. With a chopping blade in the food prep, add frozen blueberries and chop until the mixture looks like a thick slushy gone wild. No extra chilling is required before adding this mixture (minus the blade) to the ice cream maker. As it churns, add the vanilla extract.
3. The blueberry sorbet is pretty much done, but you want a smoother consistency to it than what the food prep can do. Add blueberry slushy mixture to the pre-chilled bowl of the ice cream maker. When done, transfer sorbet to quart-sized containers. Store in freezer.
This batch made just under 2 quarts. Enjoy.
If you prepared the blueberries before freezing, they should already be picked over, washed, and clean. No idea what vanilla extract does to the taste, but I imagined that it would smooth out the sweetness between the simple syrup and the blueberries.
Ingredients
2 quart-sized bags of frozen blueberries
1 tbsp vanilla extract (optional)
1 c. water + 3/4 c. organic granulated sugar
Directions
1. In a small pot, heat water and sugar together until it boils; then let it simmer for a couple minutes. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.
2. With a chopping blade in the food prep, add frozen blueberries and chop until the mixture looks like a thick slushy gone wild. No extra chilling is required before adding this mixture (minus the blade) to the ice cream maker. As it churns, add the vanilla extract.
3. The blueberry sorbet is pretty much done, but you want a smoother consistency to it than what the food prep can do. Add blueberry slushy mixture to the pre-chilled bowl of the ice cream maker. When done, transfer sorbet to quart-sized containers. Store in freezer.
This batch made just under 2 quarts. Enjoy.
Kitchen Note: The Secret Life of Pizza
Today warmed up pretty nicely and the sun even came out for several hours. This creates the ideal temperature conditions for yeast to multiply in pizza dough. In fact, it barely took an hour for the dough to more than double in size. Heck, that dough was practically slithering out of the greased bowl I put it in to rise.
I discovered today that the secret to making a crispy, thin crust pizza was a two-fold process.
Step one involves rolling out the dough as thin as possible. Pretty straightforward you'd think, but with all my previous batch attempts, the dough still rose quite a bit and was rather chewy. Then let the dough rest under a clean kitchen towel until you're ready to bake it. Then roll it once more before putting the pizza sauce and toppings on it.
Step two involves more of a dry heat, like what you'd get on a non-raining day. The oven should already be cranked to 500 degrees F. Slip the pizza into the oven either onto a pizza stone or the reverse side of a heavy baking sheet. Bake the pizza for 8 minutes. Basically when it looks like the edges of the pizza are burning or the parchment paper smells like it is on fire, the pizza is done.
I discovered today that the secret to making a crispy, thin crust pizza was a two-fold process.
Step one involves rolling out the dough as thin as possible. Pretty straightforward you'd think, but with all my previous batch attempts, the dough still rose quite a bit and was rather chewy. Then let the dough rest under a clean kitchen towel until you're ready to bake it. Then roll it once more before putting the pizza sauce and toppings on it.
Step two involves more of a dry heat, like what you'd get on a non-raining day. The oven should already be cranked to 500 degrees F. Slip the pizza into the oven either onto a pizza stone or the reverse side of a heavy baking sheet. Bake the pizza for 8 minutes. Basically when it looks like the edges of the pizza are burning or the parchment paper smells like it is on fire, the pizza is done.
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