Friday, November 9, 2018

Pears And Pastry.

Pears are in season now
and I've been coming up with numerous recipes.


If you haven't already,
please try my  
It's a favorite in the Hawthorne Household.








 I also made a pear salad with a pear and poppy seed dressing.


I'm going for a pear dessert today.
Poached pears, stuffed,
then wrapped in pastry
and served with a spicy syrupy reduction sauce.


First you need to poach some pears.

Poached Pears
3 pears
water to cover
1 lemon 
(Use juice, peel, and the lemon halves themselves.)
1 TB cinnamon
1 TB vanilla
1/4 cup honey
1 TB peppercorns
1 tsp whole cloves
1 cup sugar

Peel and core pears, leaving stems
Place pears in a small sauce pan.
Cover with water.
Peel a lemon and place peel in water.
Juice lemon into water.
Throw in the lemon halves for good measure.
Add rest of ingredients.
Bring to boil.
Reduce to simmer and cook pears 10-15 minutes.
Remove pears from liquid and let pears cool.
Continue cooking liquid at low heat
until reduced by half or thereabouts.
The more you reduce,
the syrupier the reduction gets
and the more concentrated the flavors.
Use your own judgment and taste.

Pears are cooling.

While the pears are cooling,
make the filling.

Pear Filling
(Enough for 3 pears.)
1/4 cup pistachios, toasted and chopped
1 TB Cambozola cheese

1 TB cream cheese, softened
1 TB craisins

Toast pistachios, let cool, then chop.
Combine with rest of ingredients.

Rosie Note:  Cambozola is a brie-style blue cheese.  I call it the gateway blue.  If you're one of those people who say they "don't like blue cheese," then try Cambozola.  It's a very delicate, soft, spreadable blue - the bunny slope of blues.

Using your fingers, stuff the filling into the cored pears.


Pears are stuffed and ready for wrapping.

Now for the wrap.
Thaw out a package of phyllo sheets in the fridge.
Unroll the sheets and melt some unsalted butter.
Place pear on a square of phyllo,
to hold in the stuffing.
Cut phyllo into strips and start wrapping around the pear.
Brush with butter.



And keep wrapping and brushing.
And brushing and wrapping.



Until the pears are fully encased in the phyllo strips.

Bake at 400° for about 40 minutes,
tenting with foil if necessary.

To serve,
ladle some of the reduced syrup over the pear.















The more you reduce the syrup,
the more intense the flavor.
  
 And if you have any of that reduction left over,
here's what you do - make pear sauce.
 This is especially good if you have overripe pears.

Mr. Hawthorne's Pear Sauce
2 pears, cored, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 peach, because I had it, peeled and chopped
(You could use another pear or an apple.)
1 tsp lemon juice
pinch kosher salt
2 TB corn syrup

Combine all in a small saucepan.
Cook over low heat until everything thickens and cooks down.
Swirl in a tablespoon or so of the reduced pear syrup.
Enjoy!


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