Pairing tips for pears, to make fall dishes both sweet and savory
This time of year, I get pretty excited about pears.
Pears and fall and France are all together in my head and I can’t think of one without the other. No matter where I am in the world, when I taste my first ripe pear of the season, I’m right back in Paris, driving down the road with trees overhanging, losing their leaves in gusts and swirls of cold wind.
I might as well tell you that I do not love apples the way I do pears. Stateside, I will occasionally have a slice of apple pie, but again, we’re talking about massive amounts of sugar, crust and, of course, a scoop or two of ice cream on top, all of which serve to diminish the apple’s apple-ness.
I bring this up to make a point about some pears.
Some, as you may know, are very applelike in their texture and crispness. The Anjou, for example.
As much as I love the idea of Anjou anything, simply because of its royal connection (I can’t not think of the duc d’Anjou, François II, the youngest son of Henri II and Catherine de Médici), I am not a fan of its applelike flesh and somewhat flavorlessness.
But give me a fat, curvy Comice, and that’s a whole other story. Sweet, perfumed and absolutely not apple-crisp, but again, not leaning towards the super-soft Bartlett, I will happily pay the extra buck or so to bring a sack of these home.
Comice pears are, to me, the pear of pears, the point of waiting for three days, maybe more, for them to hit that perfect place of ripeness. It’s that ripeness that has you standing over the sink, eating a pear like you would a peach because it’s so filled with juice that it’s dripping all over your chin.
As you can tell, I am partial to these big, beautiful pears, but you may use the pear of your choosing in the recipes below.
There are plenty of pear varieties and more ways to use them than you may have imagined.
Pears in salads are great. Pears in desserts are wonderful. And pears on their own are amazing, too, in their rawness that is anything but plain.
Ellise Pierce is the author of “Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking With a French Accent” (Running Press). Read her blog (www.cowgirlchef.com), and follow her on Twitter (@cowgirlchef) and Instagram (cowgirlchef).
Pear, rosemary and goat cheese tarts
Makes 2
1 package all-butter puff pastry
1 large Comice pear, semi-firm
2 ounces goat cheese crumbled
2 sprigs rosemary
1 egg for brushing the pastry
Honey for drizzling
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
1. Thaw 1 roll of puff pastry according to directions on the package. Cut it into 2 (6-inch) squares and put on a baking sheet. Slide in the fridge.
2. Peel the pear and remove the core and seeds. Cut into quarters and slice thinly. Retrieve the puff pastry from the fridge and layer the pear slices on both squares, leaving about a 1/2-inch border.
3. Crumble the goat cheese and add to both pastries. Chop a few leaves of rosemary and add. Also add a few whole rosemary sprigs.
4. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
5. Beat the egg with a little bit of water. Brush this around the edges of the pastry. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until the edges have puffed and the pastry is brown. Drizzle some honey on top and return to the oven for 2 more minutes. Add the crushed walnuts on top and serve warm.
French yogurt pear cake
Makes 8 to 10 servings
1 Comice pear, semi-firm
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup whole-milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup of grapeseed or vegetable oil, plus slightly more for oiling the sides of the pan
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan with parchment paper and lightly oil the bottom and sides. Place the pan on a cookie sheet.
2. Peel the pear and remove the core and seeds. Thinly slice it and put aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sea salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. In a mixer, beat eggs until they are light, then add the yogurt, sugar, vanilla and oil, and mix well. Now add the flour mixture and mix just until combined — you don’t want to overmix. Pour half of the batter into the pan, add the pear slices, then add the rest of the batter and slide the pan into the oven to bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool on a rack.
Pear tartines with homemade nutella
Makes 4
4 slices country bread
1 to 2 Comice pears
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts
Homemade Nutella, recipe follows
1. Toast the 4 pieces of bread.
2. Peel the pear, removing the core and seeds. Slice pear into thin slices while the bread is toasting. Put the toasted hazelnuts in a plastic bag and gently whack them once or twice with a rolling pin.
3. When the toast is ready, layer as many pear slices as you can on the bread. Spoon as much homemade nutella as you’d like on top of this and sprinkle with the crushed toasted hazelnuts. Eat.
Homemade nutella
Makes about 14 ounces
1 cup hazelnuts, skins removed
6 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1. Put the hazelnuts in a roasting pan over medium-low heat. Watch carefully so you don’t burn them — it’ll only take 5 minutes or so.
2. Put the hazelnuts in food processor or blender and purée until it turns into hazelnut butter.
3. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie (or use a double boiler). Pour this into the hazelnut butter along with the hazelnut oil and salt and blend. Pour into a jar. Keep at room temperature for 2 weeks.
Pear almond granita and molasses cookies
Makes 8 to 10 servings
1 cup raw almonds
10 to 12 Medjool dates
2 teaspoons vanilla
Molasses cookies, recipe follows
1. Put the almonds in a bowl with 4 cups of water and let them soak overnight. The next day, pour out the water and put the almonds in the blender.
2. Remove the seeds from the dates and soak them in warm water for 5 minutes or so, or until soft. Roughly chop them and add to the blender with the almonds. Pour in 4 cups of fresh, filtered water and blend. Add the vanilla and taste. Continue to blend until mixture is as smooth as possible — there will be a slight graininess because you are using the almond pulp.
3. Pour into a shallow dish and freeze. Every 30 minutes or so, gently scrape the icy particles that will form on the sides, then on top, with your fork. After a couple of hours, you should have a slushy, semi-firm granita. Serve with molasses cookies on the side.
Molasses cookies
Makes 4 dozen
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
6 tablespoons molasses
4 ounces clear sugar sprinkles
1. Put the flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a medium bowl, and whisk together.
2. Add the butter and sugars to the mixer bowl and mix until light in color and fluffy. Add the egg, egg yolk and molasses, and mix well.
3. Add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl and mix gently, just until combined. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.
4. Heat the oven to 375 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
5. Using a scoop, make small balls out of the refrigerated dough, then roll them in the sugar sprinkles. Flatten the cookies with your hand before baking. Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly firm on the edges. Cool on a rack.
This story was originally published October 10, 2017 at 10:06 AM with the headline "Pairing tips for pears, to make fall dishes both sweet and savory."