Food, Photography and Bons Mots
No. This is not a photo of Bjork. This is a photo of Anna Pavlova, the Russian prima ballerina after whom New Zealand’s national dessert was named. (Disclaimer: The Australians and the New Zealanders have been coming to culinary blows for years over credit for…
Homer (of The Odyssey not of The Simpsons) loved them. He called pears “a gift of the gods.”
By the time the Renaissance came along, Europeans were even more in love with pears. The powerful Medici dukes, for example, had fruit gardens with expansive collections of pear trees. Interestingly, in an era long before the DSLR, the mode for recording an image was the painting–at least for the Renaissance’s 1% who could afford to be generous patrons of the arts. Thus, The Medicis paid artists to paint images of everything from prospective wives to inventories of the their gardens. Here is a reproduction of Bartolomeo Bimbi’s famous (although not universally admired) pear painting, cataloging the more than 115 varieties of pears growing in the Medici orchards. That is a whole lot of pears!
Fast forward to now. Last week Costco had bags of gorgeous forelle pears. I’m ususally a Bosc person but these small forelles were lovely– golden skinned and flecked with reds and tiny black specks.
As is always the case with Costco, the bags were way too large for my small household but I gave in to temptation and bought a bag. I’ve been eating and cooking with pears ever since–and exploring the Internet for promising new pear recipes to use up my bounty.
Here is the recipe for a beautiful pear spice cake that I found on the AllRecipes site. The link to the original recipe appears at the bottom of this post.
Who knew pears could be so delicious?
Homer, of course, would say, “d’oh!” to my lame late appreciation of the full wonder of pears. (Homer of the…oh, never mind. D’oh!)
Recipe: Fresh Pear Cake
4 C. peeled, cored and chopped pears
2 C. white sugar
3 C. sifted all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. ground nutmeg
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground cloves
4 egg whites
2/3 C. canola oil
1 C. chopped pecans
Directions:
Prepare pears and add sugar. Mix gently and let sit on your counter for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Beat egg whites until frothy. Add egg whites to oil, chopped pecans and pear/sugar mixture.
Sift flour with baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. Stir flour mixture into pear mixture.
Pour batter into well-greased bundt pan.
Bake at 325 degrees F. for one hour and 10 minutes, checking frequently to see if cake is done by using a wooden toothpick or kebab spear to check for doneness. (Toothpick should come out of the cake clean rather than covered with uncooked batter.)
When done, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing from bundt pan.
Once removed from pan, cool cake and, when cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Cook’s Notes: This cake is, to my taste, best eaten slightly warm to bring out the flavor of the pears. Served cold, it is very sweet. I may reduce the sugar in my recipe the next time I make this cake.
Here is the link to the original recipe from All Recipes:
For those of you who, like me, have slight imperfections (you know who you are), here is an interesting article from NPR that raises the possibility that ugly fruits and vegetables actually may be more nutritious than the “super-model” produce that edges them out on…
I’m in love. OK. Not in love in love. I’m in love with this white bean ragout. It is spectacular–garlicky, cheesy, beany spectacular. Ragouts haven’t always been held in high esteem,though. Notably, eighteenth-century Tom Jones author Henry Fielding blamed Britain’s declining military prowess on the…
There are some exquisite photographs here. Thought you might enjoy seeing them.
My favorites are the “Mayasara Winery” shot and the wild “Flour Frenzy” shot with the flour flying everywhere. I confess that sometimes it seems like the flour is flying everywhere in my kitchen when I make bread. I love baking bread. I hate cleaning up the mess.
What is your favorite?
Here is a beautiful piece of writing about bread baking and about finding a personal connection with the food you prepare in general. I’ve vowed that I will be a better bread baker starting this year. I’ll let you know how that comes out. http://www.saveur.com/baker-apprentice-frederic-lalos
OK. Let’s call it what it is. I’m on a cookie binge and yesterday’s oatmeal cookie plate is sitting on my counter empty. It must have been Juliet. Sweet little Juliet does have a few priors for helping herself to whatever is on the…
I’ve had a tough week and oatmeal cookies seemed like a good idea.
Recipe: Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 C. pecan halves (chopped fine)
1 C. Shortening
1 C. packed dark brown sugar
1 C. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 C. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
3 C. rolled oats (uncooked)
Directions:
Chop pecans and set aside.
Beat the shortening and sugars until combined. I used my Kitchenaid mixer with the paddle attachment.
In a separate bowl, mix eggs and vanilla, whisking until mixed. Add the egg and vanilla mixture to the shortening and sugar mixture. Beat thoroughly to combine.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Use a whisk to mix the ingredients thoroughly. Add the flour mixture to the egg-sugar mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined. Add the oats and pecans. Stir to thoroughly combine.
Divide the dough into four parts. Roll each part into a 1 1/2 inch log and wrap tightly in waxed paper or parchment. Chill for several hours.
Remove cookie dough logs from the refrigerator and slice into 1 1/2 inch thick rounds.
Put cookie dough rounds on a cookie sheet (sprayed with oil) and bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown. Bake about 10 minutes.
Remove cookies from oven. Cool on a rack.
This recipe is adapted from one that was originally published in the Los Angeles Times.
Here is your history lesson. Stay with me here. We get to Fabio a bit later in this post. Dates were a staple of the Babylonian diet as long as 8000 years ago, putting the date in the running for the distinction of being the…
