Mind in the Butter

Food for taste, buds, and family

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Holiday Edition: Spiced Wine-Poached Pears with Mascarpone

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I’ve been waiting to make these spiced wine-poached pears, literally for months since I first had them on an amazing trip to South Africa. I decided Christmas Eve dinner was the perfect opportunity to serve them.  On top of being simple, elegant and extremely fragrant, I love the idea of serving poached pears to offset all the chocolate and cookie-eating my family does this time of year.  It’s nice to have something on the lighter side.  I also love these because whatever doesn’t get finished during dessert can be used to pour over pancakes or waffles the next morning.

I used Food 52’s  Red Wine Poached Pears recipe. It was a great recipe but too sweet for my taste, so I’ve adjusted it slightly. I also added cloves which really upped the spice factor. And though  I didn’t think of it until after, I could have added some knobs of fresh ginger left over from my holiday cocktail which would have been lovely.

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Serves 6

  • 4 cups red wine ( inexpensive, medium-dry wine)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • Peels from 2 oranges
  • 1 whole orange (without peel)
  • 10 -12 whole cloves
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • A small handful of thyme
  • 6 firm but ripe pears, peeled, stems left intact
  1. After removing the skin from 1 orange, pierce the orange with the cloves, making sure they are well fastened.
  2. Combine everything except for the pears in a large, heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer. Add pears, and bring everything back up to a simmer.
  3. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer slowly until pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 25 minutes. (But start checking at 20 minutes! Depending on the ripeness of your pears, this could take slightly less or more time.)
  4. Transfer pears to a plate or platter. Boil liquid in saucepan until reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead — just cover and chill pears in the poaching liquid.) Before serving, rewarm over medium-low heat until pears are heated through, or simply serve them at room temperature.
  5. Serve with vanilla ice cream or mascarpone cheese.

Lemon-Tahini Dressed Kale with Pine Nuts and Cranberries

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kaleThese days I’m addicted to kale and totally over my normal vinaigrette go-tos: homemade apple cider and balsamic vinaigrette, so I tried my hand at a lemon-tahini dressing.  I always feed bad for that lonely can of tahini that sits in my fridge after I’ve gotten the urge to make humus–the only reason I can normally think to use sesame paste. With this new addition, that sad old can is put to good use with this kale salad tossed with toasted pine nuts and cranberries.

Lemon-Tahini Dressing

  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 heaping tablespoon tahini
  • 3 tablespoons of water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of paprika
  • crushed garlic clove

A Labor of Love: Chocolate Pomegranate Torte

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“I’m sweet and complicated and difficult…just like love”

Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s an insanely good recipe from  Fine Cooking  for a chocolate pomegranate  torte to make for your loved one tonight. It’s lusciously chocolaty and combined with the tart burst of juicy flavor from the pomegranate seeds, it’s just short of being…well, orgasmic. 

Admittedly, I find this recipe to be advanced because it has three parts: a torte base, a layer of homemade pomegranate jelly, finished with a ganache glaze.  As the recipe is written now, no lover will doubt your undying love and commitment  if you make them this cake.  Granted, they might find you flustered and sobbing hovered over the saucepan of pomegranate juice mumbling, “Why hasn’t it turned to jelly yet?! Why…why?!” but surely they will appreciate your efforts once the cake is done.  Nothing says “I love you” like a crazed cook in the kitchen.

Despite my praises for this ravishing confection,  I do plan to rewrite this recipe after a few more tries because it’s just too damn complicated for me.  Expect a revised version in the future.

Flipping the Script: Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Pears and Stilton

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Fine Cooking Magazine – to me, the mother of all cooking magazines. Filled with consistently delicious recipes (minus this culinary abomination. Starfruit + chicken? *dry heave*), many with an exciting but not obnoxious level of difficulty, it really is my main source of inspiration. In addition to receiving the hard copy  in the mail, I also signed up for the “Make it Tonight” emails, offering  instant inspiration for dinner that night. I highly recommend it.

Last week this Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Pears and Stilton recipe popped into my inbox, so I decided to add it to my Christmas Eve Dinner plans. It’s a simple winter salad over a bed of escarole with vinaigrette. I flipped the script and made it more substantial by putting the roasted butternut squash, prosciutto (recipes calls for bacon) and Stilton (blue cheese) into puff pastry.  I baked it at 400 for about 25 minutes and served it with the escarole and pears and it was honestly slammin’. While I bow down to the mouth-watering Fine Cooking Magazine, I think I might have outdone them on this one.

Bosc Pear and Goat Cheese Tart

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Sometimes we spend so much time obsessing about the main course, we forget  about the appetizer.  Last night, Mom was busy baking her homemade lasagna. Starving, I scrounged around and found a quart of gorgeous Bosc pears and 3 (yes, 3) logs of goat cheese, so I made myself useful and put together a simple goat cheese and pear tart. Here’s what I did:

  • I rolled out a sheet of puff pastry (thawed) and placed it on a cookie sheet.
  • Crumbled a log of goat cheese on the bottom of the pastry dough, then placed thinly sliced pear slices on top.
  • I drizzled it with raw honey and popped it in the oven at 400 for 25-30 mins.
  • I made the crust extra brown by brushing with an egg wash before placing in oven.
  • I let it cool 5 mins before transferring to cutting board, drizzled again with honey and served.