On August 4, 2014 my husband and I had the awesome opportunity to go to Alhambra Valley and pick pears with good family friends of mine, Helen and Ed Pereira. They are part of Alhambra Valley Pears and Beef and sell their wares to farmer's markets throughout the Bay area. If you happen to live in the Bay area, definitely check them out at the Farmer's markets in Concord, Martinez, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Danville, Orinda and Moraga. They sell pears, apples and walnuts (a small amount in late September to early October) and grass-fed beef at the Martinez market on Sunday. Here are some pictures of Scott and our time on the farm:
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| From left to right: Helen, Ed and Scott. |
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| Contemplating all of our pears and pear picking.. |
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| Action shot... |
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| Look at all those pears! |
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| Going home with delicious pears.... |
After our (not so) hard day's work, Helen and Ed generously gave us a whole box of green Bartlett pears to take home. We put half in the fridge to use later and put half out to ripen on the counter. Well, although I had all these good cooking intentions for the first half, Scott and I just ended up devouring them all. We couldn't help it!! I am not even really the biggest fan of pears, but I could not stop eating that scrumdidlyumptious fruit. For the second half, they ended up ripening in the fridge, so I had sixteen ripe pears to play and cook with. Here are the recipes I made:
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| Pear, Brie and Honey Quesadilla |
Pear, Brie, and Honey Quesadilla
ingredients:
2 (8 inch flour) tortillas
2 ounces Brie, sliced into long 1/4-inch slices, rind removed
1 Bosc pear, thinly sliced
4-6 red onion slices
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
directions:
1. Heat a 10-inch nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat. Place 1 tortilla in the dry pan. Evenly arrange the brie slices over the flour tortilla. Next, add the pear and red onion slices. Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with fresh rosemary. Place the other tortilla on top. Heat for about 3 minutes and then flip. Heat for another three minutes or until the cheese is melted.
2. Remove from pan and cut into wedges. Serve warm.
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| Put a tortilla on a hot skillet. Add cut up brie cheese. |
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| Then the sliced pears. |
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| Next come the onions. |
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| And the honey. Look at that delicious melting cheese... |
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| Rosemary as the final touch. |
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| Cover with tortilla. Heat three minutes. Flip. |
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| Delciousness on a plate. |
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| Cut and serve |
All in all, this recipe was quite delicious! The ooey gooey meltingness of the cheese combined with the sweetness of the pears and honey... yummy! I made this dish twice in a row which gave me the option of flavor testing. I would definitely recommend adding a little sprinkle of salt right at the end before you put the last tortilla on top. It really brings out the savory flavors in a dish that may otherwise be a little bit too sweet. Also, for me at least, the rosemary wasn't necessary and seemed to be a wee bit too intense when we did bite into it. So, only add rosemary if you like that strong intense flavor. I was a wee bit concerned when I added the onion that it would still be raw, but it actually cooks up quite nicely. All in all, with the few modifications, a well balanced dish.
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| Pear pie |
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| My next recipe was inspired by the pear pie that Helen and Ed served to us after our delicious dinner after spending the afternoon picking pie. As soon as I tasted pear pie, I knew I had to make it on my own. |
Fresh Pear Pie from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fresh-Pear-Pie/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
INGREDIENTS:
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust
pie
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
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1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon zest
5 cups peeled and sliced pears
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
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DIRECTIONS:
| 1. | Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place a baking sheet on the bottom oven rack. |
| 2. | Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest in mixing bowl. Roll out half the pastry and line a 9-inch pie pan. |
| 3. | Arrange pear slices in layers in the pastry-lined pan, sprinkling the sugar mixture over each layer. Dot with butter and sprinkle with lemon juice. |
| 4. | Roll out remaining dough for the top crust. Use your finger dipped in a small bowl of water to moisten the rim of the bottom crust. Place top crust over filling, and trim edge using kitchen shears or a sharp paring knife. Fold edge under bottom crust, pressing to seal. Flute edge. Cut slits in top crust to allow steam to escape. |
| 5. | Bake in the preheated oven on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, 35 to 40 minutes longer. Allow to cool several hours before serving.
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| The yummy filling |
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Topped with vanilla ice cream and blueberries
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The verdict? Quite delicious, of course! After reading the reviews on allrecipes.com, I decided to follow people's advice and mix all of the fruit/sugar/spices etc. all together and let it sit. This time, I actually did follow the baking time and advice, although I didn't bake it for the full 35-40 minutes afterwards. And I most very definitely did not wait "several hours" for it to cool! By the way, the pie is delicious with vanilla ice cream and fresh blueberries on top.
Finally, one last recipe. This is the recipe that made me want to start cooking with pears in the first place: pear sauce. Pear sauce is basically apple sauce but with pears. I first had pear sauce over at Lynnelle's house and fell in love. I asked her for the recipe, and this is what she said:
Peel a bunch of pears, and core them and cut into small chunks. Add some brown sugar and cinnamon to taste (for a large pot full of pear pieces, about a cup or half-cup of sugar works. And a tablespoon full of cinnamon). Add a pinch of salt. Cook and stir over medium heat until pears start to disintegrate (about 5 - 10 minutes). Stop and take off heat before chunks have all melted away. Cool and put into plastic bags to freeze, or can them using hot-water bath method.
Which is basically what I did. Here are the pics:
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| Take a washed pear.... |
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| And peel it... |
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| Cut it in half... |
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| And core it... |
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| Chop it into little bits... |
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| Put all together in a pot... |
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| Add cinnamon, sugar and a pinch of salt... |
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| Put over heat.. |
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| And watch it shrink... |
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| And shrink... |
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| And shrink (especially with a potato masher)... |
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| Looking yummy now! |
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| The final result... delicious over vanilla ice cream! |
So the result was very definitely delicious and has lasted a long time in the fridge. However, I realized a few things:
1) I should have cut the pears way smaller. They didn't really melt down so eventually I just mashed them with a potato masher.
2) I think I had sixteen pears originally... all that gave me two small jars of pear sauce (about one pint).
3) It is a pain in the butt to peel and core that many pears!! Goodness me but I hate peeling!
Most very definitely worth it in the end.... particularly delightful over vanilla ice cream. Well, that's all for now folks. I'm back in full on crazy work mode, so my next blog post may have to wait a while. Until we meet again...
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