Baked Pears with Goat Cheese, Pecans and Chocolate Ganache

Yum! Doesn't the title of this posting just make you want to grab a spoon and dig in? Last night, after my boyfriend made us a delicious dinner of baked salmon with scallions and a nice big spinach salad, I decided we needed to finish off our meal in style. A friend recently told me about a snack she's been making that involves pears, cheese, and balsamic dressing. I loved the idea and decided to try to make a dessert version using the same concepts. So here you go! Try it out and let me know what you think!

Baked Pears with Goat Cheese, Pecans and Chocolate Ganache
1-2 Bartlett pears (or whatever you've got laying around)
Goat Cheese
Pecans
1-1.5 Tbsp brown sugar
Dark Chocolate Morsels
Heavy Whipping Cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the pears in half and scoop out the middles a bit so that you have a nice little cup. Fill the cups with goat cheese and top with pecans. Sprinkle brown sugar on top.

Place the pear halves on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes (until it's nice and brown and the brown sugar and cheese have melted a bit).

Meanwhile, put about a cup of dark chocolate morsels in a bowl and microwave until melted (only turn it on for about 30 seconds at a time and mix the chocolate in between until it's all melted). Add 1-2 Tbsp of heavy whipping cream and mix. Add as much cream as you want until it's the consistency you'd like---obviously, the more you add the runnier the sauce will be.

Plate the pears and drizzle the chocolate ganache over them.

Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Ravioli? Yes, please!

The food for my brother's 17th was a big hit. The cupcakes, version 2.0 are MUCH prettier this time. See photographic evidence below. (And I need to say thanks to my amazing boyfriend who took the following picture. He's local photographer, Justin Lewis- filmaperture Photography :)



I tried out a new recipe for ravioli and it's definitely a keeper. I made a few modifications and thought I'd share it with you. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash, Sage & Goat Cheese Ravioli, with Hazelnut Brown-"butter" sauce
For the Filling:
2 lbs butternut squash, halved & seeded
1 med. onion, chopped
1 1/2 tsp ground sage
1 Tbsp butter (or use olive oil like me :P)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 oz goat cheese mozzerella, grated

60 wonton wrappers (2 packages)
1 stick of butter (or substitute with olive oil like me :P)
1/3 c. hazelnuts, lightly toasted, skinned, & chopped coarse
3 cups spinach leaves

Preheat the oven to 425 & lightly grease a baking sheet.

For Filling: Put squash, flesh down, on baking sheet & roast for 30 mins. Cool. Scoop out the flesh into a bowl and trash the skin. Mash until smooth

While squash roasts, cook onion & sage in oil w/salt & pepper, about 5 mins. Add garlic. Cool and add to the squash. Add the cheese and stir.


Bring 5 quarts of salted water to a boil. Place one wonton wrapper on a lightly floured surface and mound 1 Tbsp filling in the middle. Wet another wrapper and seal the deal! Transfer to a dry paper towel. After you make a bunch- I did 6 or so at a time- put them in the boiling water for about 6 minutes, until they float. If you aren't plating right away, transfer them to a shallow pan and add some cooking water. If you don't, they'll all stick together. Continue doing this until you have used up your filling or have made as many ravioli as you wish!

For the sauce- heat 1 stick of butter or some oil in a skillet and add the nuts & spinach leaves. If using butter, keep it on the heat until it browns and then remove from heat and season with salt & pepper. If using oil, just heat it up a bit.

Serve ravioli with butter/oil hazelnut spinach sauce on top! Yummy!

Serving amount is debateable- I made 5 raviolis for each of 5 people, so 5 total and I've still got leftovers to make another batch tonight.

I had intended for this blog to focus on baking, but I made a wonderful dinner the other night that I just have to share. I can't take the credit for coming up with it-I got the recipes from The Great Vegetarian Cookbook by Rosamond Richardson. There's so real keepers in this book, but you have to convert all of the measurements, so it can be a little bit frustrating!

I thought I'd share the recipes with you and moving forward, I will probably share more! Enjoy!

Lemon Broccoli
1 1/4 lb broccoli florets
1 egg
the juice of 1 lemon
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Trim the broccoli florets and steam them until tender--about 5-6 mins. Keep them warm and reserve the liquid.
Beat the egg with the lemon juice (I'd suggest using a little less than called for as it was REALLY lemony) and put into the blender. With the machine running, slowly pour in about 1 cup of the hot cooking liquid in a thin stream.
Pour into a heavy-based saucepan and stir constantly over med. heat, until the sauce thickens. Be careful not to let it come to a boiling point, otherwise it will curddle (yuck!).
Remove from the heat, season to taste with salt and pepper and leave to settle for 10-15 mins. then spoon over the warm broccoli and serve.

Grilled Polenta with Cheese, Mushrooms & Roasted Garlic
For the Polenta
1 cup of maize meal
3 cups of vegetable stock
1 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp chili powder
sea salt
1 Tbsp butter (optional)
2 oz Cheddar cheese, cut into slivers

For the Roasted Garlic
1 whole head of garlic, skins on
Olive oil to brush
Dried thyme and rosemary, to sprinkle
salt and pepper

For the Mushroom Garnish
8 oz of large flat mushrooms, sliced (you could use portabella; I just used criminis)
olive oil

First cook the polenta. Put the maize meal into a saucepan and pour on the stock, stiring until it becomes smooth. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 10 mins, stirring frequently until cooked.
Add the spices and garlic, season to taste with salt and beat in the butter (I didn't use any and it was still great!). Pour into a small rectangular dish, smooth down the top and leave to cool. You can leave this overnight if you wish (I just stuck it in the fridge while I prepared the rest).
Meanwhile, roast the garlic. Cut off the pointed ends, but leave the skins on. Brush with olive oil and place in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with the herbs, salt & pepper. Bake for 40 mins at 350F, or until soft (it's a good idea to mix them halfway through). Leave to cool slightly, then squeeze out of the skins.
Now grill the mushrooms. Brush them liberally with olive oil and set under a hot grill for a few minutes until cooked on both sides (ok, I don't have a hot grill, so I just sauteed them in oil in a cast iron skillet and they came out great!).
Cover the cold polenta with the slivers of cheese and cut into 4 squares (it's actually easier to cut them, take them out and THEN put the cheese on top). Lift them out of the dish and set under the pre-heated grill for a few minutes (instead you can nuke them for 1 minute or put them in the already warm oven untilt he cheese melts).
Garnish the cheesey polenta squares with roasted garlic and mushrooms and serve.
Makes 4 squares.

Lemon Snow
1 cup of sour cream or creme fraiche (I used sour cream)
8 tsp sugar
the grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
2 egg whites, beaten until stiff

Beat the sour cream with the sugar until thick. Fold in the finely grated lemon rind with the lemon juice. Carefully fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites--as for a souffle. Turn into a glass dish and chill for 2-3 hours (I only chilled for 90 minutes). Eat the same day, because if left for longer, it will separate (mine did separate any way, but if you just stick a spoon in it and stir it around, it's fine!).

And we're back!

After a 6-week long hiatus, I am back in the kitchen and ready to experiment once again. My boyfriend was having a shitty week last week and my immediate inclination to help cheer someone up is obviously to bake them something! So I took to my kitchen, donned the cupcake apron he got me back in May and raided the pantry for inspiration. Since I've been working 90+ hours a week for a Festival in Brunswick (45 minutes away from home)I haven't been doing much food shopping so I had to improvise a bit.

I did a simple berry crisp that most anyone can make with ingrediants found in many kitchens. I'll share the recipe (note- measurements are guestimates as I rarely measure things out when I'm experimenting), a rarity for me, so enjoy!!

Christi's Very Berry Crisp
Ingrediants:
Crust & Crumble
1 1/2ish cup of dry oats
1/2 cup of brown sugar
cinnamon
nutmeg
1/4 cup of butter

Berry Filling
Fresh Blueberries- about 1 1/2 cups
Fresh Blackberries- about 1 cup
Frozen Raspberries- about 1/4 cup
1 Tbsp of raw honey
1 Tbsp of brown sugar
2 Tbsp cold water
2 Tbsp corn starch

Start out by mixing the dry crust & crumble ingredients in a bowl then add melted butter. Press some of this mix into whatever you choose- I used 4 ceramic ramikins, you could use a round cake pan, little cups, experiment! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put the blueberries in a bowl and mash them a little (I used a potato masher, but didn't mash them all completely). Rinse the frozen raspberries under hot water until they're soft, retaining a little of the juice, and add them to the blueberries. Then add in the blackberries and mix. Put the berries in a small saucepan on med-high heat. Add honey & brown sugar. In a small bowl, mix the water and cornstarch until smooth. Once the berry mix is at a boil, add the cornstarch, mixing constantly. It will only take a minute or so for the mix to thicken, then take it off the heat.

Spoon some of the mix on top of the crust and then top with the remaining crust & crumble mixture. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes- depends on the type of dish you're using. Serve hot!


Bottom crusts


mmmm berries!


Pre-baked crisps