Pear and Coconut Milk Sorbet with Roasted Pears and Thyme

This smooth and fragrant sorbet came about through chance and is definitely one for the books. It’s as close to a vegan gelato as I get. I was making my typical vanilla sorbet with coconut milk for the dairy-free one, when I spied a sliced Bartlett pear sitting in lemon juice, leftover from a pear tart.  So I pureed it and added it to the coconut milk mixture. The taste and aroma of the pear came through in the finished result. I served it with roasted pears sprinkled with tiny thyme leaves. A delicious combination!

Pear and Coconut Milk Sorbet

1 14 oz can coconut milk

1 c sugar

1 large Bartlett pear

Juice of ½ lemon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend the coconut milk with the sugar. Peel, core and slice the pear and toss with the lemon juice to prevent browning.  Puree the pear and add it to the coconut milk mixture along with the vanilla.  Chill the mixture thoroughly and process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Makes about 1 quart.

Roasted Pears

Peel and core pears and cut them into 3/8-inch dice. Sprinkle them with a little brown sugar and roast them in a 400-degree oven for about 5 minutes, turning once.

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Improved Gluten-free Dairy-free Pumpkin Pie

With a great tip from Mark Bittman of The New York Times, I improved the gluten-free, dairy-free pumpkin pie that I made for Thanksgiving a year ago. Last year, the pat-in crust, made from purchased gluten-free ginger snaps, was really ugly. This year, I added unsweetened coconut to the ginger snaps and it worked much better. I also liked the fact that the coconut in the crust complemented the coconut milk in the filling.

Gluten-free Ginger Snap and Coconut Crust

Ginger snaps, ground in a food processor (1 ½ c)

¼ c unsweetened coconut

6 tbsp vegan spread (Earth Balance), melted

Mix all ingredients and pat into 8-inch pie pan. Chill. Prebake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool before adding filling and finishing pie.

Pumpkin Pie Filling with Coconut Milk

1 c precooked pumpkin (from a can or roasted mashed from a pie pumpkin

1 c coconut milk

¼ c brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground cloves or allspice

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Mix all ingredients together and pour into partially baked crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until set.

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Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts bud up at the intersection of the beefy center stalk and the branches and are a fun vegetable to grow, starting in the early spring and ending at the first frost. Even in my in-town garden, I grew plants that were 6 feet tall!. Although this member of the cabbage family got a bad reputation, probably, like rutabagas, because the offerings in the grocery stores were old and pungent, the vegetable has seen a remarkable resurgence in the past few years. Recipes that separate the leaves and stir fry them, or even shred them and dress them as a salad, have turned these humble little orbs into a glam side dish.

Here, I simply halved them, sprinkled them with olive oil and a little salt and roasted them in a 400-degree oven for about 8 minutes, turning them midway. We loved them plain, but I could imagine that a little Parmesan cheese on them, or adding a few drops of maple syrup would dress them up a bit.

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Pickled Cauliflower Two Ways

To capture the bountiful local harvest of cauliflower for the winter pantry, I put up a few jars generally following a recipe from Eugenia Bone’s Well-Preserved cookbook. For some, I followed her recipe relatively closely but for others, I added some grated fresh ginger and turmeric, which our local Whole Foods carries, presumably to cater to the large local Indian population. I’d never cooked with fresh turmeric before, so this was a learning experience. I plan on planting some in a pot to see what it produces.

Pickled Cauliflower adapted from Eugenia Bone’s Well-Preserved

1+ lb head of white cauliflower (yielding 4-5 c florets)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 1 c)

1 c sugar

1 c distilled white vinegar

1 c white wine vinegar (or use only one type)

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Prepare pint jars for canning (or use larger jars and process for longer).

Trim the cauliflower and separate into small florets.

Combine the onion, sugar, vinegar and red pepper flakes in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cooking gently for five minutes. Remove the onions.

Loosely pack the cauliflower florets and onions into the prepared (warm) canning jars and pour on the liquid, leaving at least ½ inch of headspace.

Process pint jars in a water bath canner for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Turn off heat, remove lid and let sit for ten minutes before removing to sit undisturbed until cool. Allow to cure for 4 weeks before using.

Variation: Pickled Cauliflower with Ginger and Turmeric

Add 1 tsp grated ginger and either 1 tsp freshly grated turmeric or scant 1/2 tsp turmeric powder to the sugar-vinegar mixture.

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Pear Jam with Sage and Sage Honey

Fragrant with the fruity aroma of pears and a whiff of sage, and finished with a little honey, this is a lovely jam. The November Tigress Can Jam has come and gone, and while I made a fantastic pear and chestnut jam for the post, I wasn’t done with my recent obsession with pears. With the exception of Asian pears that seem to over-winter, our local pears varieties have a fleeting presence and therefore I wanted to put up the last of them for the pantry.

When we were in San Francisco a month ago, we picked up a bottle of sage honey. Light in color and subtle in flavor, it was a good complement to the gentle pear flavor of this jam, and finished it off nicely. If I had had no sage honey, I would have used a mild flavored honey so as not to compete with the pears. I added a little sage leaf to each jar since I thought that the sage flavor and smell would disappear after processing and storing the jam. The idea of adding honey at the end came from the recently published Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, a hefty and beautifully produced book brimming with great ideas.

Pear Jam with Sage and Sage Honey adapted from The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook

4-6 Bartlett pears (2 ¼ – 2 ¼ lbs)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 ½ c granulated sugar

3-4 sprigs of sage

1 tbsp sage honey (or 2 tsp of more strongly flavored honey)

½ tsp cider vinegar

Small sage leaves for the jars

Peel and core the pears and chop them finely into a bowl containing the lemon juice. Work quickly to avoid browning the pears. Stir in the sugar, cover the surface with plastic wrap or parchment paper and then cover the bowl. Set aside to macerate overnight.

Prepare the canning jars and place a plate in the freezer for testing the jam’s gel. Bring the pear mixture to a boil over high heat and cook until a drop tested on the frozen plate is wrinkly and slightly sticky.

Remove from the heat and add the sage sprigs to steep in the pear jam for about 5 minutes. Remove the sage, and add the honey and a few drops of cider vinegar. Heat gently and pour into prepared jars. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Turn off the heat, remove the canner lid and let the jars sit for 5 minutes before removing to let them cool, undisturbed.

Makes five 4-oz jars.

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Pear and Chestnut Jam

This is an inspired concoction – fragrant ripe pears, vanilla and a touch of lemon paired with sugary chestnuts from an American source. The aromas were amazing, and the taste sublime.  Thank you for choosing pears (along with apples and quince) for the November Tigress Can Jam. This is straight from a Christine Ferber playbook. I lowered some of the sugar content but it was still very sweet.  My chestnuts took longer to cook than hers and I did not puree them completely, preferring to preserve the slightly chewy texture of the nuts.

While the lovely American chestnut trees of our distant past were wiped out by blight, there are some farmers in the Midwest who are sustainably reviving the industry. Our local health food store snagged a shipment of them a few weeks ago and I could not resist. Okay, not local in the immediate sense of the word, but certainly better than the ones from Italy found in grocery stores at this time of year.

I bet this jam will be useful in tarts, meringues, sandwich cookies, even stirred into soup. Even though I halved Ferber’s recipe, I got 10 4 oz jars and enough to line the bottom of a delicious pear tart. (The tart was terrific and the jam worked perfectly.)

The next time I make this (it’s a keeper), I will halve the chestnuts, roast them, lower the sugar even more, and add a spunky seasonal herb like rosemary, sage, savory or thyme.  But I will also make the recipe just as is.

Peeling chestnuts. These chestnuts were smaller than the ones you usually see, under an inch in any direction, and their skins were not quite so hard to cut. To peel them, cut an X in the rounded side, making sure to penetrate both the outer shell and the inner flaky skin. Working in small batches, pour boiling water over them and let them sit for about three minutes. The easiest ones to peel will be those that sink to the bottom of the bowl. Take them out of the water one at a time. If you squeeze the shell, the X should open and the skins should slip off. Some need the help of a paring knife.  Alternatively, you could roast them in a 375-degree oven or in a perforated pan over an open flame.

Pear and Chestnut Jam adapted from Christine Ferber

In this recipe the chestnuts and pears are cooked separately and left to macerate overnight. They are once again cooked separately and then combined.

Chestnut mixture:

1 ½ lbs fresh chestnuts, yielding about14 oz after peeling

2 c sugar

1 ¼ c water

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Put the ingredients in a large shallow pan and bring to a boil, stirring. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the chestnuts are soft (time may vary). Pour into a ceramic bowl, cover with parchment, cool, and set aside in the refrigerator overnight.

Pear mixture

Juice of 1 lemon

1 ½ lb pears (I used 4 Bartlett pears, but had Asian pears on deck)

1 ½ c sugar

½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise

Place the lemon juice in the bottom of a wide saucepan. Peel the pears and chop them into small pieces, immediately dropping them into the lemon juice to avoid browning. Add the sugar and vanilla and bring the mixture to a simmer. Pour into a ceramic bowl, cover with parchment, cool, and set aside in the refrigerator overnight.

Assembling the jam

Prepare canning jars and lids and put a plate in the freezer for testing the jam’s set. Cook the chestnut mixture and pear mixture separately over high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Combine the two mixtures, bring to a boil and simmer for another 5 or so minutes until the set tests done. Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Turn off the heat, remove the lid and let the jars sit for five minutes until removing to the counter to sit undisturbed until completely cool.

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Pear and Chestnut Tart

This is one of  the most decadent and satisfying desserts that I know how to make. With my new pear and chestnut jam as a base, I think it is even better than the classic version with ground almonds. The new jam perfectly complements the riff on a traditional tart.

For this month’s Tigress Can Jam, I made a delectable pear and chestnut jam flavored with vanilla and lemon. The aroma and taste were amazing. I have been collecting pears for a couple of weeks as the season winds down for the local Bartletts, though the Asian pears will continue to be available since they are nearly as sturdy as apples. With extra pears and jam on my hands, I decided to make a pear tart that’s based on oh-so-many apple tarts.

Instead of the traditional “frangipane,” a mixture of ground almonds, sugar, butter and egg,  which acts as a base for the fruit, I substituted my newly made jam for the sugar and nuts, assuming that the sparkling flavor would also complement the pears. I was right. This was delicious. I glazed the tart with apricot and nectarine jam from the summer, tinged with a little local white Port.

Pear and Chestnut Tart

Tart crust (a version of Jacques Pepin’s method)

2 c flour

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1½ stick cold butter, cubed

1/3 c + ice water

Pulse the dry ingredients in a food processor to blend. Add the cold butter and pulse to create medium-coarse pieces. With the motor running, quickly add the ice water and stop, Transfer the mixture to a bowl and combine the ingredients quickly with your hands, adding a little more ice water.  Do not over-mix or the crust will be gluey and tough. Gather the dough into a flat patty, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

When ready to bake, roll the dough out to the desired thickness (thin is best) and transfer it to a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan. Refrigerate until ready to bake.

This recipe makes two 9-inch tart crusts.

Frangipane

For this particular tart, the filling acts as a cushion between  fruit and  crust.  A typical mixture, again per Jacques Pepin, would include about ¾ c almonds and 1/2 c sugar ground together and mixed with an egg and 1 tbsp melted butter. Here, I used about 1/3 c of my pear and chestnut jam ( 1 4 0x jar), mixed with 1 tbsp melted butter and 1 egg, lightly beaten. Pour this into the cold tart crust and return to the refrigerator while preparing the pears.

Pears

Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a shallow bowl. Peel 4-5 pears, depending on the size. (I used five 3-inch Forelle pears, which were ripe but still firm.) Slice the pears vertically and core them. Cut the pear halves vertically into ¼-inch slices, or a little thinner, dunking them in the lemon juice to prevent browning.

Assembly and baking

Remove the half-filled tart shell from the refrigerator and place the sliced pears on top. Overlap the pears slightly starting at the outside. If they are uneven (mine were), create a center rosette with pears slices forming the edges and chopped up pears in the center. Sprinkle with 2 tbsp sugar and dot with a teaspoon or two of cold butter.

Baking

Bake the tart in a preheated 400-degree oven for about an hour, or until the crust and fruit

are brown and fully cooked. Remove to a rack to cool completely. Remove the tart from the pan as soon as it is cool enough to handle.

Glazing

Mix 3 tbsp apricot jam with 2 tbsp water and 1 tbsp sugar in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl to cool, covering with parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming. When ready to apply, add a tsp of kirsch if desired (or in this case a tsp of local port, nothing strong enough to divert from the pears).

When the tart is completely cooled, lightly brush on the glaze, taking care not to disturb the placement of the fruit.

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Tomato, Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

While always willing to go prospecting in the pantry any time of year, I typically cook with local ingredients in season. I associate tomatoes and peppers with an earlier season than sweet potatoes but it turns out that they overlap at this point in time. The last tomatoes and peppers are ripening as the first carrots and sweet potatoes emerge. Hence this tasty soup that can be adapted multiple ways.

I made enough of the basic soup for two meals. For one, I added cumin and the smoked Spanish paprika called pimenton, and for the second, a tangy cilantro cream.  For a spicier soup, I could have used some of that ancho chile powder that I brought back from the San Francisco Farmers’ Market a few weeks ago.

Tomato, Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red Bell or Anaheim pepper, diced

1-2 hot red peppers, diced

Olive oil

1 very large or two medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into small dice

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into small dice

3-4 medium field tomatoes or 6 plum tomatoes, chopped

½ c or more water

Salt

Seasoning alternatives: cumin and pimenton, or garnish of cilantro mixed with sour cream.

Saute the onion and peppers in a splash of olive oil until they start to soften. If using pimenton (or paprika) and cumin, add it now and stir to incorporate into the vegetable mix. Add sweet potatoes and carrots and sauté them to coat the surfaces. Add the tomatoes, water and a little salt.  Bring to a boil and then simmer until all of the vegetables are tender, adding more water if the mixture is too thick. Puree the soup mixture and serve hot, with the optional garnish.

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Roasted Carrots with Carrot Greens Pesto

I’ve rarely met a vegetable that I did not want to roast, especially the ones that are not green (though I do roast kale). I think the medium high heat intensifies the flavors, especially when the vegetables pick up age, as in the middle of winter. Now, when the carrots are just cut from the fields, I roast at a higher temperature, allowing them to soften and brown quickly and retain their freshness. These carrots were sprinkled with olive oil and cooked at 400 degrees for under 10 minutes. They were “al dente” in texture.

My other constant vegetal inspiration is pesto. For me, that means any green that is pureed raw with a little oil, a touch of salt, maybe a few other ingredients like garlic (used here) and nuts (not used here).

I love this combination of raw and cooked, spunky fresh greens with sweet slightly caramelized but very fresh tasting roots.  It captures the essence of a transitional season.

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Saturday Soup: Potato and Kale

Saturdays are always hectic around here, when we’re rushing around to take care of a week’s errands, running off to the CSA farm to pick up our weekly share and pick whatever’s available from the fields, cleaning the house and attending various events. Phew. So this weekend, when we were cleaning out our gardens for the final time and chopping up leaves for the compost heap, I made this simple and flavorful soup that used up some of our abundant kale. I made it with chicken broth that had been simmered with a smoked ham hock from my freezer, which imparted a smoky flavor. The more traditional – Portuguese –version would be to add chorizo. The soup could be made vegetarian simply by using vegetable stock, or even water. I chose to puree the potatoes but if you cut them small and neatly, they can be left whole, creating a rather different kind of soup.

Potato and Kale Soup

1 medium onion or a leek, chopped

1 stalk of celery, diced

Butter or olive oil

3 medium white or yellow potatoes, but into ½-inch pieces

1 quart chicken or vegetable stock

Salt and pepper

1 small bunch (or partial bunch) of kale, stems removed, leaves cut into ribbons (1-2 c)

Saute the onion (or leek) and celery in the butter or oil until translucent, add potatoes and stir to coat. Add stock and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Puree the mixture and return to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. When ready to serve, add the slivered kale and cook for about 5 minutes or until the kale is tender.

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