The sweet charm of pears - Oven-baked Pears With Dried Cranberries and Maple Syrup Served With Cardamom Zabaione

I have been thinking about a lot of things to write about here, thoughts popping up while I do something, drive the car or walk the dog, some are too controversial or provocative and some of them I need to think about a bit more before I ramble about them here. And I also need to have more time and lately time is really not in abundance here, always something that is pressing, job things or family things and when there isn't I am the perfect time waster. Although I realize that it is important for me and probably my way to recharge my mental batteries but I so wish I didn't do it. I suspect I waste time because I don't want to do some of the boring things that always lurk in our lives. Why I wonder? Why do they have to exist? 

But this dessert is not boring to make, it is very easy and it is very gratifying to eat!

OVEN-BAKED PEARS WITH DRIED CRANBERRIES AND MAPLE SYRUP SERVED WITH CARDAMOM  ZABAIONE
4 servings

4 pears
dried cranberries
maple syrup
salted butter

zabaione:
4 egg yolks
100 g sugar
150 ml white wine
2 largish pinches of ground cardamom

 Cut the pears in halves, if you want you can peel them but it is not necessary, and take out the core with a spoon or a small scoop thing.

 Grease a oven-proof form. Melt a little butter and brush the cut surfaces of the pears with it and then put the pears in the form. Put 3-4 dried cranberries into the holes and fill them with maple syrup.

 Bake in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for 15-20 minutes or until the pears are cooked and soft.

 While the pears are in the oven, you make the zabaione: Mix egg yolks, cardamon and sugar and whisk  until the mixture is palest yellow tending towards white, then beat in the white wine and continue to beat in a baine marie/double boiler. Do not let it boil, as soon as it thickens you remove it and let it cool down a bit.

- Serve the pears with the zabaione, either warm or cold.

Blossoming

The allure of the topping - Vegetable Crumble With Pecorino and Toasted Seed Topping

Yet again I have been inspired by the French edition of Saveur, when I was in Milan for a job this Monday, I had enough time to drop in at the best news agent's at the Central station to get the latest issue. Among many other nice recipes and photos, they had a feature on crumbles and one of the toppings proposed was one with seeds in it and I immediately decided to try to make a Lucullian version of it. 

I used the vegetables I found in my fridge which is sadly empty and echoing right now but you can take whatever you find in yours, that's the beauty of crumbles I find. I added some cooked chickpeas to make it a bit fuller and more nutritious and then I used rosemary and ginger, the flavours that I find have similarities.

Well what are you waiting for I wonder, start crumbling!

VEGETABLE CRUMBLE WITH TOASTED SEED TOPPING
4 servings

filling:
2 big carrots, sliced
1 big leek, sliced
1/2 big celery root, cubed
3-4 handfuls of fresh spinach
300 g/ 10,5 oz cooked chickpeas
fresh rosemary, finely chopped
freshly grated ginger
salt
extra virgin olive oil

topping:
200 g/ 7 oz flour
100 g/ 3,5 oz butter
1 tblsp sesame seeds
1 tblsp sunflower seeds
1 tblsp linseeds
2 tblsp pine nuts
3-4 tblsp grated Roman pecorino or Parmesan cheese
1 largish pinch of salt

 Cook the vegetables in some olive oil, beginning with the carrots, the celery root and the rosemary. After 3-4 minutes, add the leek and then again after a few minutes, the chickpeas and the spinach. Fry gently until the spinach wilts and the vegetables are soft.

 While the vegetables are cooking away on the stove, make the topping: Toast the seeds in a non-stick pan, the linseeds have a tendency to go off like small missiles so keep a lid at hand. Then mix flour, cheese, salt and seeds and add the cold butter in pieces and start doing the crumble, rubbing flour and butter between your fingers.

 Put the vegetables into a greased oven-proof form and then cover with a layer of the topping. Bakein a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 20-30 minutes.

Go green with a touch of lace - Broccoli and Edamame Bean Soup With Crispy Parmesan Lace

Sometimes i think I have a hangup when it comes to broccoli soup, it is one of those eternal themes in my culinary life, over and over again I try out new ways to make it without really knowing why. And here we have yet another way to make it. I liked it, I hope you do too. 

(Sorry for the compact posting but it's one of those weeks, I am cooking, styling and shooting lots of photos for Alice Cucina AND trying to do lots of other, family, related things at the same time and I am pretty stressed out so not to add on, I just post photos and recipe this time!)

BROCCOLI AND EDAMAME BEAN SOUP WITH CRISPY PARMESAN LACE

4 servings

500 g/ 1,1 lb broccoli

200 g/ 7 oz edamame beans

4 fresh spring onions

1000 ml/ 4,22 cups light stock

4 tblsp fresh cream

2-3 tblsp/ person freshly grated parmesan cheese

salt

extra-virgin olive oil

 Slice the onions and cut the broccoli into pieces (peeled stems and florets).

 Fry the onions gently in some olive oil for a couple of minutes, then add broccoli and beans.

 Add stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

 In a non-stick pan, spread out a layer of 2-3 tblsp grated parmesan and heat it up very gently; when the cheese is light brown, carefully remove the 'lace'  and wrinkle it a little before it cools down.

 Serve the soup topped with bits of parmesan lace. 

Sweet Orange and Star Aniseed Stock with Strawberries and Starry Pasta

I hate to admit it but for once I am looking forward to the promised rain because with it the Scirocco will arrive and that means sweeter air, gone are the frost and the ice on the car and hopefully we can start peeling off layers of clothes. This long winter has made me long for all the nice things that are to come so when I saw strawberries, I bought them. I did pretend it was for my youngest daughter who has been ill for such long time and who had expressed a wish for strawberries but in the deep, dark nooks of my heart I knew it was for me. Not at all a self-sacrificing mother but a greedy Smeagol/Gollum, striving for the Ring/Berry...  Anyway, on my last trip to Milan, I managed to get my hands on the February issue of the French edition of Saveur and I was so intrigued by a dessert made with a sweet stock that I had to try to make something like that myself. And with "My Treasure" echoing in my mind and feeling the recall of the red berries, I swept some of them away and made this little dish. I think it is very good on a hot summer's day when you need something refreshing, the concept of using a sweet stock is great, you can vary it a lot and you get a light, nice dessert with almost any fruits and berries! I added some pastina that I cooked in the stock to add to the texture but you can use tapioka pearls, bulgur or couscous or maybe something else instead.

SWEET ORANGE AND STAR ANISEED STOCK WITH STRAWBERRIES AND STARRY PASTA
3-4 servings

stock:
1000 ml/ 4,2 cups water
100 g/ 3,5 oz sugar
the peel of 1 orange
2 star aniseed

15-20 fresh and sweet strawberries
4-5 tblsp pastina, tapioka pearls or whatever you want to use

 Simmer the ingredients for the stock for one hour under a half-closed lid.

 Take out the peel and the star aniseed and add the pastina. Cook until the pastina is al dente.

 Slice the strawberries thinly, put them into bowls and pour the hot stock over. Serve tepid or cold.

Let the colour in - Tomato Rice With Red Bell Pepper, Zucchini, Leek and Asparagus

As much as I love winter greens, and I really do, I need vegetables with colour. They have a magnetic effect on me even though I know so well that they are not at their best now but try to tell that to my body or if it is my brain, well to my being that seems to be out of any rational control. Not that I complain, far from it and especially when it leads me to eat this kind of dish, packed with colour, vitamins and flavour! Now I added some asparagus I had left from a photos shoot but you can take some other vegetable that fits in. The dish can be eaten as a full vegetarian lunch or as a a side dish and it is naturally gluten-free as well so remember it for one of those lunches or dinners when you have to cater for many needs.

TOMATO RICE WITH RED BELL PEPPER, ZUCCHINI, LEEK AND ASPARAGUS
4-6 servings

350 g/ 12,35 oz rice (not parboiled)
400 ml/ 1,7 cup tomato sauce
400 ml/ 1,7 cup water
1 large red bell pepper, sliced into circles
8-10 small zucchini, sliced
1 small leek, sliced
8-10 asparagus spears
1 handful of rocket or baby spinach
2 tblsp parsley, finely chopped
chili flakes, optional
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

 Cook the rice in the water and the tomato sauce until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

 Meanwhile, start frying the vegetables gently in some olive oil, add the chili flakes if you want them,  first the zucchini for 3-4 minutes, then the leek and the asparagus and when they have some colour, add the sliced belle pepper and go on frying gently for another 3-4 minutes.

 Mix the vegeatbles with the cooked rice and serve hot or at least tepid.

diptychs

Rusty leaves


Similarities


Trunk of an olive tree and its inhabitants:frontal and from above.

How to enjoy life- Yoghurt Dessert With Mandarine & Tea Jelly, Candied Orange Peel and Almonds

I need some summery images right now, maybe you do too!

A slightly calmer week so I grab the occasion to finally post that recipe that I have been sitting on for quite some time now. Which means that I also have to create some new ones but that is another problem. But before proceeding with that, I would like to tell you about what is happening with our Plate To Page workshop in Weimar in May; as you can see in the margin, it is been sold out for a long time and that we also have a big sponsor, the Irish Food Board, BIA. And this means that two Irish food bloggers have the chance to win places (everything paid) at the workshop by participating in a competition over at Irish Food Bloggers Association. So if you are an Irish food blogger, do click over and see what you have to do and maybe we will meet in Weimar!

But back to the recipe, some time ago I managed to buy mandarines that were so full of seeds that no one here were eating them so I thought I had to come up with a way to use them because they tasted really good. A mandarine jelly was my first thought and as the combination of a fruit jelly and yoghurt had been on my mind for a long time, this is what I made.

YOGHURT DESSERT WITH MANDARINE & TEA JELLY, CANDIED ORANGE PEEL AND ALMONDS
4 servings

mandarine jelly:
200 ml/ 0,85 cup mandarine juice, freshly squeezed
150 ml/ 0,63 cup tea
50 g/ 1,75 oz sugar
1,5 tsp gelatin powder

1 handful of blanched almonds, finely chopped
4-5 tblsp candied orange peel, finely chopped
400-500 g/ 14-17,7 oz thick yoghurt, I used Greek

 First make the mandarine jelly: dissolve the gelatine powder in the cold mandarine juice in a small bowl while whisking with a fork. Set aside for 5 minutes or until spongy. Heat up tea and sugar and then mix the gelatine powder/mandarine juice in the hot liquid until completely dissolved. Leave to cool down.

 Star preparing the dessert by putting a first layer of yoghurt at the bottom of a small bowl or a glass jar and then a layer of chopped orange peel and almonds, repeat once (or twice) and then carefully spoon the now cold liquid on top. Leave to rest in the fridge for about four hours or as long it takes for the liquid to jellify!