baked pears.

I have a confession to make...  I have a slight major obsession with pears.

 In high school, I painted countless pictures of pears, one of which my mother has framed and hung in her kitchen.  Another is in my apartment.

I am surprised this hasn't surfaced earlier, but the secret is out now. 

I often find myself browsing through the pears at the Co-op looking for the perfect pear to photograph.  Strange?  Probably.

Ever since I read Molly Wizenberg's post on Orangette (http://www.orangette.blogspot.com/2011/12/to-poach-pear.html), I have wanted to make poached pears, but I struggled to find just the right recipe. After searching through countless cookbooks and websites (and discovering that many recipes call for at least ONE CUP of white sugar, which is outrageous), I finally found a recipe I wanted to try.  It is from eatingwell.com and combines two of my favorite things: pears and wine.  How could it not be delicious?  After a long session at the pool this afternoon, I realized that I had nothing planned for my the rest of my day. (oh, winter break, how I love you).  I picked up my camera and spent a good hour shooting these bosc pears.  I'm sure many of you are wondering why anyone would spend an hour taking pictures of fruit...but these pears were just sooooo perfect.  To minimize the appearance of just how many pictures I took, I spread them out throughout this post.  I'm sure you haven't noticed, right?

Anyways, after my afternoon photo shoot, my mother arrived home with the Riesling wine required for this recipe... it was time to give poached pears a whirl. This recipe is extremely simple and does not require many dishes or ingredients.  Never in my life have I tasted something so wonderful and delicate.  I decided to serve the pears with a bit of vanilla ice cream.  As I worked on this post, I realized that the title is "baked pears" not poached pears.  After a bit of research I discovered that poaching actually involves cooking in liquid on the stove....which is essentially what this recipe is...just in the oven. Poached or baked, they are to die for.

Riesling Baked Pears (www.eatingwell.com)

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe pears, preferably Bosc, with stems, washed and dried
• 2 cups Riesling or other fruity white wine
• 1/4 cup honey
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 4 bay leaves (I didn't add bay leaves)
• 4 strips orange zest, (see Tip)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each pear, so they will stand upright. Arrange the pears in a 9- to 10-inch pie pan or similar baking dish. Whisk wine and honey in a medium bowl until well blended; pour over the pears. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and orange zest to the wine mixture around the pears.
3. Roast the pears, basting every 15 minutes, until they are wrinkled and tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the type of pear used.
4. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pears to shallow dessert bowls. Pour the wine mixture into a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil until slightly thickened, about 6 minutes. Drizzle over the pears and garnish with the cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and orange zest. Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled.

Second Chances.

It wasn’t until a month ago that I actually gave biscotti a second chance.  As a young girl, my mother often had coffee get togethers with a few of her close friends, while all of the children played together.  I always remember one of her dear friends B serving biscotti alongside the coffee when she was the host.  I was not a picky child, however, I remember trying a bite of Mother's biscotti and thinking that it tasted like a three-year old, stale cookie.  Ever since then, I have turned up my nose to biscotti when I see it on the counter at coffee shops or at the Co Op.  I haven’t given biscotti even an ounce of my attention…until recently.  A professor of mine who often likes to feed his tired, hungry and overworked graduate students, brought biscotti to class one day.  For some reason, I felt like giving this cookie a second chance and to my surprise, it was better than I remember.  While I ate this store-bought biscotti, I began thinking about making my own.  I woke up this morning to the smell of my mother brewing fresh coffee and immediately decided today would be the day to conquer a first attempt at biscotti. It was the perfect morning for baking, the sun poured through the windows into the kitchen while Mom and I paged through cookbooks.  We chose a recipe from the Williams-Sonoma “Essentials of Baking” book.  Biscotti is baked twice, creating a crisp texture which lends to dipping in coffee.  This recipe comes together in no time and doesn’t take any unusual ingredients.  The recipe is titled Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti, however, we used pecans in place of the pistachios.   As the biscotti baked, the kitchen was filled with the most delectable aroma of almonds and oranges.  The slices are perfectly crisp and held together well.  I’m curled up by the fireplace with coffee and a few cookies…I’m not sure I will be making it to the gym for my workout today.  I guess second chances are worth it sometimes...

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used gluten free flour)

1 ½ teaspoons baking power (I added 3/4 teaspoon b/c the gluten free flour mix has leavening agents in it)

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

¾ cup sugar

½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 ½ teaspoons grated orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup coarsely chopped pistachio nuts (I used pecans)

½ cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line a rimless baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs and sugar.  Using a wire whisk, beat until light in color and thick, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the melted butter, orange zest, and vanilla and almond extracts with a wooden spoon until blended.  Add the dry ingredients and beat until incorporated.  Stir in the pistachio nuts and cranberries.  The dough will be soft and sticky.

Scoop out half of the dough onto one half of the prepared baking sheet, and form it into a log 10 inches long. Repeat with the remaining dough, spacing the logs 3 inches apart.  Press the logs gently to make them 3 inches wide.  With damp fingertips, gently smooth the surface of the logs. 

two 10-inch logs ready for the first round of baking

Bake the logs until they are crisp and golden on the outside, 20-25 minutes.  The centers will be soft.  Remove from the oven.  Reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.  Let the logs cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.  
With a wide spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, using a serrated knife, cut each log crosswise on the diagonal into slices ¾ inch thick. 

After baking for 25 minutes, let the logs cool for 
10 minutes before slicing into pieces

  Arrange the slices, cut side down and at last ½ inch apart on the baking sheet.  Return to the oven and bake until the cookies are crisp and brown on the outside, 17-22 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.  The interiors of the cookies become crisp as they cool.  Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Sliced biscotti, ready to go back into the oven

The finished biscotti...best with a cup of coffee.

Best of 2011.

As I was driving home from boxing class this morning (my first class ever!) I came to the realization that I did not post a "best of" list for 2011!  As much fun as creating this list is, it's also challenging because I have soooo many favorite things and can never narrow it down to just one!  Anyways, I like reflecting on the past 365 days....here it is.

Book: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Song: Ghost by Ingrid Michaelson
Country Song: You and Tequila by Kenny Chesney ft. Grace Potter
Coffee: Highlander Grog mixed with Peaberry Coffee and steamed milk, topped with cinnamon from Grounded Specialty Coffee in La Crosse
Wine: Cupcake Moscato d'asti
Restaurant: Delancey (Seattle WA)
Food Blog: http://catesworldkitchen.com/
Moment: Seeing T after completing his 4 month through hike of the AT
Workout: summer "killer swim" with Rae
Race: Silver Lake Triathlon: I learned how to race in the rain, put my bike chain back on QUICKLY, raced with one of my dearest friends and took 1st in my age group.  Oh, and not to mention the stellar cafe we enjoyed a post race lunch at.
Place Visited: Coast of Oregon
Photo Taken:

Foodie photo taken:

Dessert: Chocolate Stout Bundt Cake
Food: Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Maple and Orange Glaze; recipe coming soon!
Discovery: Minnesota Classical Radio Live Stream (thank you for getting me through my first semester of grad school no matter what time of day!)
Website: Pintrest (I'll admit, I am an addict)
Accomplishment: acceptance into the UWL School Psychology Program

Honor: Being selected by faculty to represent the Psychology Department as a "Student of Excellence"

Movie: Temple Grandin
Quote: "Just when the caeterpilar thought the world was going to end, it became a beautiful butterfly."
Piece of Wisdom: The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said:“Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
 Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
 And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
 the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; 
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”