Rustic Pear Tart

Maybe more of a general use recipe. Hm.

Ingredients

• Crust
• 1/2c wheat flour
• 1/2c AP flour
• 4 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp buttermilk
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• Filling
• About 3 pears, cored and cut into 1/2" slices
• Also two nectarines, or I guess whatever you'd like to add
• 1.5 tbsp corn starch
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• ~1/4 tsp cinnamon - we kind of eye-balled it.

Make the crust: Mix the dry ingredients, and cut in the butter. When it's a sort of coarse, sandy texture, add the liquid and stir to combine. Don't over-mix or knead. Then form into a 4" disc and wrap in plastic. Place in the fridge for an hour or two. I think we let ours go for about 3-4, actually - doesn't hurt it to go a bit longer.

When you're ready to make the tart, preheat the oven to 425 and make the filling: slice up the pears (and other fruit you want to use) and toss with the corn starch, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Roll out the crust with a lot of flour until it's about 18" wide and 8" tall. Place crust in a baking pan on parchment. Arrange the pears in a line running the length of the crust, and fold the crust up over the pears. It won't cover them completely, which is fine. Dot the top with a little butter (optional) and place in the oven. After 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350 and continue to bake for another 30 minutes.

Thoughts: It went surprisingly well, even though it includes pastry dough. I guess you just have to not be afraid of butter. I would make this again. And I may wind up doing that because we have like 10 pears going bad in our fridge right now.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Poached Pears

Okay, I guess I have to blog this.
Ingredients

• 2 firm ripe bosc pears
• 1/4c tawny port
• 3c water
• 1/4c sugar
• 1tbsp lemon juice
• 2-4 slices of orange
• whipped cream or ice cream or something?

In a medium-sized saucepan, set the water to boil. In the mean time, peel and quarter the bosc pears, then cut out the stem & seed parts. To the water on the stove, add the port, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then add the pears. Take the rounds of orange and place on top of the pears to hold them under the poaching liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the pears are suitably tender.

Take the pears and orange out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Now bring the liquid to a boil and cook down to make a sauce. This took us another 20 minutes or so. RIGHT before it's done, it foams up because it starts to exceed the boiling point of water, I think. This is a sign that most of the water has evaporated and you have something more akin to caramel. Anyway, take it off the stove. Pour over the pears (or over individual servings). Serve with whipped cream or ice cream or whatever.

Thoughts: I would do this again exactly the same way.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Caramelized Pear Cake

Based on a recipe from Epicurious.

Ingredients

• 3 largeish bosc pears, peeled.  One grated, the other two sliced thinly.
• 6tbsp butter
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 1/3c flour
• 2/3 c granulated sugar
• 1 1/2tsp cinnamon
• 1tsp baking soda
• 1/2tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1/2c neutral oil
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• zest of one orange

Preheat oven to 350.  In an oven-safe skillet, melt the butter.  When the butter is melted, take it off the heat and add the brown sugar, stirring around.  Then lay the two sliced pears on the skillet in a radial pattern (or however you like).

Meanwhile, combine everything else (including the grated pear) in a separate bowl and stir to combine.  It makes a fairly thick batter.  Pour the batter over the pears in the skillet and throw the whole thing in the oven for 40 minutes.  Take it out when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Thoughts: Fantastic.  Really good.  And fairly easy, although there were a lot of ingredients.  I would say our one complaint was that it's got so much sugar, although I wouldn't say it's too sweet.  It just makes me feel wrong for eating it.  It's really good, though.  I would definitely make this again exactly the same way.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Carmelized Pear Risotto

A recipe inspired by something I had at Le Chardonnay restaurant in Madison.

Ingredients

• 2 ripe pears, chopped (we used Bartlett, but Bosc would probably do REALLY well)
  
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
  
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  
• ~1.5c arborio rice or medium grain white rice, or some combination thereof.
  
• 2c chicken broth (we used bouillon) (or veg)
  
• ~1tsp dried basil or about 1tbsp fresh basil
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  
• ~1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• Boiling water, as needed
  

Risottos are pretty easy to put together, actually. Start by sauteeing the onions in the olive oil (with the basil and some salt + pepper) over high heat. You're looking not only to get them soft (a little transparent) but also to caramelize them a little bit. Once they're just a little brown, throw in the chopped pears, and again let them sautee until they're caramelized just a bit. Now add the rice and chicken stock (or, in our case, two cups of water and two teaspoons of bouillon). Let the mixture cook down, stirring often. Make sure you have a kettle of boiling water at the ready. When most of the water has cooked off (it shouldn't be DRY, but more a creamy consistency, and the rice will stick a little on the bottom of the pot) add another cup of boiling water. Repeat this process, cooking the water off and then adding more water until the rice is cooked through. When the rice is done, let the water cook down and don't add more. When it reaches the desired consistency, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Thoughts: The risotto was delicious, but we've already thought of ways to improve on it. First, before you cook anything else, caramelize one additional pear (chopped) and set it aside. Cook the risotto as usual, and then at the end re-add caramelized pear as a last step. Another idea is to use canned pears in juice to get a slightly more powerful pear flavor. If you were really into it you could even add a little pear juice in addition to stock, but I think that might be a little excessive.

We served our risotto with Romano cheese, but there's almost certainly a more elegant pairing possible. I'm thinking Brie. Anyway, there are options you can experiment with.

Disaster Index: 1/10