Seckel Pear and Cranberry Pan Dowdy

It's that time of year for all those soupy, sweet fruit crisps, slumps, buckles, and pan dowdies. This past week, SB and I harvested wild cranberries that grow in a boggy area near our home. SB put his muck boots on and I picked from the edge of the road along an old turnpike near the house. We came away with enough berries for me to make a few loaves of cranberry nut bread or some cranberry sauce or this dessert!

Pansies and a Pear Tart

Oh, Spring! At last, you seem to be rearing up and stretching your arms! Blow your breezes and bring on your showers! We are so ready for open windows and clean sweeps!

A Thin Little Tart ...

... a thin little fruit tart that matches the thin little cardamom-dusted almond slices that deck its top ...

Warm Caramelized Pears with Clove Zabaglione - Virtual Supper Club Treasure!

Cooking Italian is one of my favorite approaches to special dinners, but I have to admit that my repertoire of Italian desserts has never been the focal point of my quest for excellent Italian fare. I have always concentrated on the main meat dishes or special sauces for pastas or interesting treatments for vegetables and fallen back on tried and true desserts like tiramisu or sorbets. That's why this month's Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club was such fun (albeit a tad late).

Val and Sarah challenged me to provide a dessert for this month's theme of Let's Go Italian and finding this recipe for caramelized pears with a soft warm zabaglione sauce was like hitting pirate treasure. It's an easy recipe that can be done ahead of time. I poached the pears last night, drizzled warm chocolate over them and then chilled them to set the chocolate. Today, I let them warm gently in a slightly warm oven while I whipped just a bit of cream and cooked the clove zabaglione sauce. The dessert came together in just ten minutes.

Pear and Pecan Cake with Embellishment

Remember these pears? I blogged about them here .... but they have come back to haunt this kitchen in a new manifestation ...

It's the Simple Things ... Cider Roasted Pears with Sultanas and Pine Nuts

I was intent on making a pear tart when I took these perfect Anjou's from the fridge, but the snow was falling and the fire needed tending, more wood needed to be brought in from the woodshed, and a simpler approach appealed to me the more I thought about it.

Spicy Fruit Compote

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!

 

Gluten-Free Pear Crisp

I bought myself a new flamewear pot this week and SB picked pears from the back yard tree. The pot is lovely to look at - the pears not so much. They taste spectacular though, not overly sweet but with just enough juice and sugar to be great for eating from the palm or putting in a salad or crisp. To boot, they have no pesticides on them at all. During the summer, we have picked/trapped the Japanese beetles  and snipped out a gross nest of tent caterpillars before the varmints could damage the tree. The deer haven't discovered them yet, either!  We've been rewarded with a few dozen little knobby pears. We've had them in spinach salad, but tonight we're having a dinner party and one of our guests needs gluten-free fare. It's pear crisp coming right up!

A Classic Pear Tart

The Bosc pears were just so perfect this week ... and pears will be gone for the summer very soon. My sweetheart has not had much in the way of sweet treats of late, so I made him a tart ... a classic French pear tart.

Picture Perfect ... Is It Possible?

This is a pear and walnut tart ... the product of a whimsy and a bowl of ripe pears just begging to be used in their prime!

They say that copying someone is the most sincere form of flattery ... wellll ...