I have been thinking of doing something with the classic apple pie to change things up a bit, along the lines of an apple-pear pie. Only problem is finding both pears and apples at the right consistency and flavour by which to do this. Anyone have any ideas on what types of pears and apples to combine for this sort of thing? Any input would be much appreciated.

I am going to throw my boyfriend a Birthday Party dinner tomorrow night, and I am inviting some of our closest friends over to my house. I want to cook something delicious and exciting, but I don't want to do too much shopping. One of the people coming over is also breasfeeding her 1mo. son, so I have to take that into consideration. She doesn't seem to have any picky eating habits or dietary needs, but I am going to double check with her tonight to see what she can  or can't eat.

I went for dinner to a fancy restaurant in my city at Christmas time this past winter, and our table had two delicous salads (descriptions taken from their menu):

Spinach Salad | baby spinach, vanilla poached bosc pear, toasted walnuts and crumbled blue cheese tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette.
Asparagus Salad | mixed greens tossed in a honey shallot balsamic with shaved parmesan and prosciutto wrapped grilled asparagus.
 I am pretty positive that I want to go with one of these two salads.

The part that I don't know about is the Vanilla Poached Bosc Pear (although I just I found a recipe I think here: http://my-indulgence.blogspot.com/2005/08/pearscan-you-ever-get-enough.html )and the toasted walnuts. The blue cheese and baby spinach  won't be too much of a problem, neither the raspberry vinaigrette - although if anyone knows of a good tried & true recipe for that it would be appreciated. I am also at a lost for the honey shallot balsamic sauce and the proscuitto wrapped grilled asparagus. 

I think that chicken would be a good main course option, but I don't know what to do for it. I want something fancy and good, but I don't want something that will take me an hour per serving - I am serving 6 people most likely.  Everyone also likes red meat, so that is also an option, if I can find a good fancy dish - I don't really want to do burgers, steak, or ribs. If anyone can suggest a good wine also, that would be fantastic.

Thanks :)

No photos yet, although I do have some, I'll post them next time I post something (my internet connection is being particularly painful today.)

Pear, Basil and Feta Salad

30g (1oz) Greek feta
1 medium-sized pear (I'm not sure about US/UK pear varieties but I use either Packham or Bartlett pears, dpeending on what looks better at my fruit shop)
8-10 fresh basil leaves
15ml (3 teaspoons) blasamic vinagarette (home-made or store-brought, if using the store stuff Paul Newman's olne is good)

If you are making the vinagarette from scratch, do it first. I like to use about 5ml (1 teaspoon) balsamic to 10ml (2 teaspoons) of extra virgin olive oil. Whisk the oil and vinagar together using a fork for about a minute (add some dried basil if you want but this is really only a visual thing), set aside.

Peel and core the pear, cut into thin slices places in your serving bowl and cover with the vinagarette (the acid in the vinagar stops the pear from going brown.)

Finely chop the basil leaves and add to your serving bowl, toss the basil and the pears together.

Crumble the feta finely over the top of the pear and basil.

You can either eat this straight away or leave it to sit for 1/2 hour, if you want the flavours to mix together a little but I prefer to eat it straight away.

Variations

To make this a slightly more substantial mean add some baby spinach or baby cos lettuce, something that doesn't have a hell of a lot of flavor, you want to add bulk without detracting from the flavor.

A really great, yummy variation is to grill some haloumi and use it instead of the feta.

If the pears where you are are less than fabulous, nashi pear works well too.

And finally, for a lighter dressing make a french style vinagarette. Mix 10ml (2 teaspoons) of light olive oil or vegetable oil with 5ml (1 teaspoon) white vinagar and about 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar.

If you can't tell I've played around a lot with this recipie, it is one of my favorite salads, really light, crisp flavors and the mix of the acidic vinagarette and the sweet pears is heavenly.

Which brings me to my question: What are some other fruits that work well in salads and/or with cheese. I get so sick of plain garden and greek salads. My only limitations are that I can't eat blue mouldy cheese, I react to it (white mould is okay) or peanuts, all other nuts are okay.

tonight i came home and made myself a very simple plus yummy salad. sorry no pics this time, but this is what i used:

1/2 small red onion, sliced thin (it kind of overpowered everything so i think next time [read: tomorrow's lunch], i'm going to use a 1/4 of that...)
thinnish slices of goat's cheese (i found a dutch goat's cheese at tj's and realised it should have been sliced a bit thicker but it was still really good. very mild but very good, especially for someone who isn't a big fan of goat's cheese)
1/2 pear (i bought organic but any kind would work..i usually buy whatever looks nicest)
about a hand-full of sliced almonds
romane lettuce (any kind of salad green would do but i've been eating a lot of the baby greens so i wanted a change of pace)
trader joe's basalmic vinaigrette

layer everything on a plate and enjoy! i wish i had some crusty bread and a glass of wine, but the only wine in the house is sherry so i did without the wine and bread. instead, i had a glass of soy milk to wash it all down.

serves 1

yum! yum!

I was starving when I got home. I've been eating absolute crap lately so I needed to redeem myself with something healthy and yummy. I experimented with some shit I had in the fridge. I give you, Asian fusion-ish pear salad.

Cooked vegetables

1 Asian pear, peeled
1 cup frozen brocolli, chopped
1 cup frozen edamame in the pods
1 tsp ground ginger

Cut the pear in half and slice very thin. Set aside. Cut the other half in chunks and smash it or use a garlic press to smash the flesh. Save the flesh and juice and mix with ginger. Add to a large skillet with 1" water. Boil mixture. Add broccoli and edamame and bring to a boil. Simmer until vegetables are just tender. Drain and cool. Remove beans from the edamame pods when cool enough to handle.

You can use fresh veggies here, I just used frozen because it was what I had.

Fresh vegetables

Fresh romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
1/2 Asian pear (see above)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 medium tomato on the vine, diced

Toss well in a large bowl with the cooled broccoli and edamame.

Shrimp

1 package shrimp meat (any kind you like, I use baby shrimp in most of my stuff)

Boil a medium pot of water with a pinch of salt. Cook shrimp in boiling water until pink. Drain and cool. When cool mix with the rest of the salad.

Dressing

2 Tbsp sweet n sour sauce (ask nicely and I'll share my recipe for my home made sweet n sour, which I used here)
1/4 cup yogurt
1 tsp ground ginger
Pinch ground black pepper
Sprinkle of fresh chopped cilantro (3-4 sprigs)
Dash soy sauce

Whisk all ingredients in a small bowl until blended and smooth. Drizzle on top of salad and viola! Delicious, healthy, and wonderfully weird Asian Fusion-ish pear salad.

Cruising through the cooking blogs at a hundred miles an hour, I was stopped in my tracks by a recipe for (and picture of) asparagus pesto pasta. Unless you grow your own basil or know others who grow it, making basil from scratch is an expensive undertaking. And, while nothing can duplicate the verdant peppery greenness that is basil's claim to fame, the structure of the recipe for pesto in general lends itself to creative interpretations. When you can read the ingredient list and taste the finished product in your mind, you know it is going to be good. I was salivating before I even was halfway through.

( Click for deliciousness! )

In the menu for the restaurant in my mind, this recipe has a reserved spot.

This was the kind of recipe where I spent the whole time making it going "...this isn't going to make enough." And then I tasted it and realized that yes, it would be. Because it was very rich.

It was also the kind of recipe where, licking the bowl, I had a pang of going "...oh no" - it really didn't come together until paired with the pears and raspberries. But then it was fabulous. And very rich.



Recipe and more pictures here.

Pear Ginger Cake---Dig the groovy 70's saucer:



( It tastes even better than it looks...click for recipe. )

x-posted to sweet_baking

( recipe )

I'm writing a short story in which a character who has an excess of fresh pears is asked to cater for a small gathering after a funeral (think sausage rolls and half-sandwiches). What could he make with the pears that they could eat? I was thinking some sort of crumble or tart, but...

Well, this isn't quite a New Year's resolution, but I have decided to clean my cupboards out. And rather than just throw everything, I figured I should find some way to work each of the items into a menu. I pulled out five things that have been hanging around a while to start with. The pasta mix and the bread mix are easy to figure out, and the lasagna noodles...well, I'll improvise a lasagna. But my other two items I'm not sure what to do with, a can of cream of broccoli soup and a jar of pears in port wine. The pears were a gift -- should we just eat them as they are? I know I can eat the can of soup as is, but I'm not fond of it (I grabbed the wrong can off the shelf at the store). Does anyone have a good way to use it up?

Chocolate Pear Napoleon that I made for dessert for a cozy New Years dinner with my boyfriend and friend Jason. The recipe came from Baking with Julia, and is sheets of chocolate phyllo dough stacked with layers of chocolate ganache, poached pears, and ginger whipped cream. The original recipe called for a cranberry compote on the side, but I couldn't find any cranberries so I made a simple raspberry sauce instead.

( recipe, as requested )

I get home exhaused after a long night of teaching evening microbiology classes to freshmen. Blood sugar is low, mouth is dry from lecturing, can't think, need food...

Salad greens on plate. Nice, fresh, crisp ones. On top layed thinly sliced juicy pear and radish. Crumbled on some soft, pungent gorgonzola cheese. Meaty walnut halves on top of that. Drizzled with white wine vinegar and honey.

Crunch...crunch...crunch...ah, I feel revived. :-)

Wotcha.

A friend is planning her Xmas meal and has stumbled across a partridge and pear recipe calling for a beurre-marnier. The internets are very quiet on exactly what this is and how you'd use it, so foodie help would be appreciated. Her recipe says to add the solid mix to a liquid base, and this seems very odd; surely it should be the other way round?

Thanks in advance.....

My pork, cabbage and apples I posted about the other night came out great! The only thing I should have done is thrown the apples in later, and used different apples, because the apples I did use virtually turned into sauce - however, it thickened the chicken stock/apple-cranberry juice mix that was in there and turned out a lovely thickened sauce. 


Anyway, since it's autumn, here's a recipe I got from "The Monday to Friday Cookbook" by Michelle Urvater, which is one of my favorite cookbooks. Since I like fruit with my meat, I add dried cranberries, apricots, prunes, or any other dried fruit in with the sauerkraut. It makes a nice salty, sour, sweet combination. This dish goes great with acorn squash, sweet potatoes, baked potatoes, or any other sort of root vegetable. 



Enjoy!

i have an abundance of bosc pears [thanks, costco!]
andddddddd i need ideas.
i bought them to make poached pears, but i'd like to do something savory too!
sweet recipes are fine too, though.
ready? GO!

Just quickly: THANK YOU for all the great suggestions. Im assessing my pantry to see which ones will work the best for what I have on hand.

If you like, keep the ideas comming! Once I have a successful product, I will do my best to get a photo and follow up here.

Sorry I didnt reply to each individual comment, Im on the run today.

Oh, man, btw do you guys have such DELICIOUS ideas! :D

I just love this com! <3

I have an abundance of pears waiting for use. I was thinking of poaching some of them, but most of the liquids I find listed for poaching are alcohol based. Im pregnant, and simply dont have any in the house.

What do you guys think of poaching them in honey and balsamic?

I havent gotten beyond the 'should I poach or not poach' stage, but I thought if they turned out ok, I might make a tart with them and some blackberry's I have frozen.

Suggestions, ideas, mouth watering photos all welcome. :)

Thanks in advance - I would hate to see these lovelys go to waste.

Blackened ono (a flaky Hawaiian fish) served on a caesar salad
Baked potatoes
Fresh pears, roasted in a honey sauce, stuffed with gorgonzola

No pictures, because we rushed right into a glutonous frenzy of eating. :-)