Pears Poached in Reisling

When we were getting ready for our wedding in February, CCO and I decided we'd buy all the wine and beer. It would be cheaper that way, we reasoned, since the caterer would be charging a flat fee per person regardless of whether they had anything to drink. And it was cheaper -- even though in a last moment dash, my dear CCO went out and bought several more cases "just in case."

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) he also forgot to keep the receipt. So after the wedding, we had to keep something like six cases of wine. I'm not really complaining. But there are only so many days you want a super sweet riesling. Unless of course, you also have pears. Then it's quite great that you still have two cases of riesling hidden behind the couch.

Eat Rating: Delicious. Not overly sweet, but a nice end to dinner -- especially if you serve with a square of dark chocolate.
Difficulty: Easy. Requires a vegetable peeler and a melon baller (you could use a spoon)

Adapted from the Food Network

4 pears, any variety
1 750 ml bottle of riesling
2 cups sugar
water

Add the bottle of wine and the sugar to a medium-sized saucepan and whisk to combine. Set aside.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel a pear all the way up to the stem. Take the melon baller (or a spoon) and starting at the bottom, spoon out the core until all the seeds are gone. Place the peeled, cored pear in the saucepan to keep from browning while you work on the other pears.

[LN: the recipe calls for you to take a round of parchment paper and place it over the pears to ensure they are submerged. You could also use a small plate for this.]

Once all the pears are in the wine, check to make sure the liquid is high enough to cover them completely. If it's not, add a little water until they are fully covered.


Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes. The pears are done when you can easily insert a knife into the fruit.

Serve immediately or let come to room temperature. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a square of dark chocolate.

Pears can refrigerated in the poaching liquid for 4-5 days.

Foolproof Gazpacho

You shall have to make do with this picture of tomatoes, dear reader. The soup was devoured before pictures could be snapped.

On days when it's wicked hot, I often can't bring myself to turn on the oven. I turn to cereal or -- if I happen to have some good heirloom tomatoes from the market -- to delicious, cold gazpacho. The soup is best made with heirloom tomatoes, those ugly, weirdly colored tomatoes you used to be afraid of as a kid. I often like to use the yellow heirlooms for gazpacho -- they're a little sweeter than the red or purple kind. But really any of them will do.

This soup can be eaten right away, but it's best if you can make it about 2 hours ahead of time and let it chill in the refrigerator. Don't be afraid to make a big batch -- the soup is actually at its best on the second day.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I have a whole new appreciation for really good tomatoes.
Difficulty: Easy. Requires a blender or food processor.

CCO's recipe

2 lbs yellow heirloom tomatoes (or any kind of heirlooms)
1 large cucumber (You can peel and seed if you want. I like to use the whole thing)
1 purple onion
1-2 jalapenos
Handful of parsley or cilantro
3/4 cup water
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Using a knife, cut around the core on the top of the tomato and pull it out. Roughly chop about 2/3 of the tomato and put in a blender.

Cut 2/3 of the cucumber in large pieces and place in the blender.

Cut the onion in half. Roughly chop one half and throw in the blender.

Cut off the top of one jalapeno, slice down the side and remove the seeds. (You should probably wear gloves while doing this). Toss in the blender.

Blend the vegetables to make a rough puree. Pour into a bowl.

Dice the remaining tomato, cucumber, jalapeno and onion into small pieces. You want it large enough to give the soup a nice crunch, but not so large that you have to spend an inordinate amount of time chewing. Add the diced vegetables to the puree, then mix in the water and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chill at least two hours before serving with a dollop of sour cream or croutons.

Rainier Cherry Sorbet

Cherries -- glistening happy orbs of deliciousness. I love cherries, all kinds. But if I had to pick a favorite, it might be Ranier Cherries, with their skin a soft, pale yellow with a hint of pink, like they're blushing. They're the sweetest of the cherries, great for eating on their own.

A few weeks ago at the farmer's market in Mt. Pleasant, one of the sellers had a few quarts of Rainiers. I bought one, planning on eating the entire quart on my own as soon as I got home.

When I got home, though, I decided to look around and just see if anyone had any good recipes for desserts with Rainier Cherries. The answer is no, not really. Almost all recipes are for Bing Cherries, the deep red kind. This was a problem I could fix.

It was hot out, so I decided some kind of ice cream or sorbet would be perfect. I started with David Leibovitz's recipe for Cherry Sorbet and adjusted it, lessening the sugar to make up for the sweetness of the cherries and scaling it down for the one quart of cherries. The result? Pink, light and perfectly sweet.

Adapted from David Leibovitz, The Perfect Scoop (LN: I highly recommend this book, BTW)

1 quart Rainier Cherries, stems and pits removed
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp kirsch or a few drops of almond extract

Place the cherries, water, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes until the cherries are soft. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Using a stick blender, puree the cherry mixture. (LN: Alternatively, you could place it in a blender to chop up.) You can either puree all the way or puree and leave a few chunks of cherry in there, as I did.

Pour into a glass bowl and refrigerate until well chilled. Place in ice cream maker and use as directed. (If you don't have an ice cream maker, see this post about how to make ice cream without one.)

Eat immediately -- it will be soft like frozen yogurt -- or freeze for 2-3 hours until hardened some and serve.

Red Currant Jelly

For the past several weeks, they've had currants at the Farmer's Market -- little red, white and pink berries of tart goodness. I had never tried canning with them before. Generally, I stay away from berries with seeds because you have to strain them. But I recently acquired a sieve (it's amazing the amount of random kitchen gear people give you when you get married), so I figured this would be a good first test for jelly.

The difference between jam and jelly -- if you don't already know -- is that jam is made from the whole fruit, while jelly is made just from the juice. So with jam, you throw the fruit in with the sugar and boil until it's ready to jar. With jelly, you place the fruit in a saucepan with water and boil until the fruit has released all it's juice. Then you proceed like you would with jam, adding sugar and pectin to the juice.

Currant jelly is certainly delicious (it's apparently insanely popular in France) -- tart, but a little sweeter than raspberry. I definitely recommend it.

For more on canning, see here.

Adapted from the Ball Blue Book of Preserving

3 pints red currants
1/2 cup water
2 2/3 cups sugar
5 tsp pectin

Remove currants from their stems and rinse thoroughly in a colander. Place the currants and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil and gently crush the berries against the side of the pan with the back of a spoon. Simmer for 15 minutes until the berries are softened.

Allow to cool slightly, then strain the juice through cheesecloth, squeezing as much juice from the berry mass as possible. You should get about 2 cups of juice from the 3 pints.

Place the juice and the sugar back in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, add the pectin and stir until mixed in. Bring to a full boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and fill jars.

Waterbath process for 5 minutes. The jelly will keep unopened for up to one year. After opening, store jelly in the fridge and use within 2-3 weeks.

Rhubarb Lemonade Spritzer

I was actually trying to make this Rosemary Lemon Rhubarb spritzer, but my darling CCO forgot to mention that he threw out my stash of rosemary. (In fairness, it was probably shrivelled since I forgot to put it in the fridge)

So I made the recipe without the rosemary and it tastes just fine.

It also makes a nice gin drink -- but then again I think everything makes a pretty nice gin drink.


Adapted from Simply Recipes

1 lb rhubarb, peeled and cut into chunks
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine rhubarb, water and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Strain out the rhubarb chunks and stir in lemon juice. Chill until cold, then use in drinks.

Rhubarb Lemonade Spritzer: Fill the glass about a quarter of the way with syrup and fill the rest of the way with chilled seltzer water.

Rhubarb Martini: In a shaker of ice, add equal amounts gin and syrup. Shake and strain into a martini glass.

Rhubarb Gin Fizz: In a shaker of ice, add equal amounts gin and syrup. Shake and strain into a highball glass. Fill the rest of the way with seltzer water.

Lentil Soup

The first time I tried to cook with lentils, they were downright awful. Okay, slight exaggeration. They were just completely tasteless, totally boring. They were nothing like the first time I had ever had lentils -- a delicious veggie and lentil soup I had at a vegan potluck dinner.

I vowed to try again. After all, they are really good for you. I quickly discovered my problem was I was using brown lentils. They're the most difficult to make tasty, absolute flavorsucks. What I needed were red lentils. After a horrified trip to Whole Foods ($7 for a tiny bag?!), I headed to the Indian grocery in Springfield where an enormous 5 lb. bag only cost me something like $4.

And from there, my love of red lentils began. I was somewhat surprised to discover that when cooked they turn a dull yellow. No matter. Throw in some tomato and the color is restored.

This soup is amazing. I mean so incredibly good you can actually forget for a little while that it's good for you.

I recommend serving it warm with a dollop of yogurt. Or take some day old bread, cut into pieces, toss with olive oil and bake for 10 or so minutes to make croutons. Or really what you'll want to do is eat two bowls -- one each way for comparison. It's like a requirement.

A few notes on preparation: the recipe calls for you to toast whole spices and then grind them in a spice grinder. The freshly roasted cumin and coriander do make the soup sing. But if you don't want to mess with whole spices (or don't have a spice grinder), you could sub ground cumin and ground coriander.



Adapted from The New York Times

Eat Rating: Awesome. It's difficult to put the spoon down.
Difficulty: Easy. To make it smooth, you'll need to puree with either a hand blender (or actual blender). If you don't have one, just leave it chunky. It's good that way too.

2 tbsp peanut oil
1 large onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
2 tsp curry powder
1 28-oz can of diced tomatoes, with juice
2 1/4 cups red lentils
8 cups water, vegetable or chicken stock (LN: I did half water-half veggie stock)
1 lime, juiced

In a large stockpot, heat the oil. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute. Add the spices, stirring to coat the onions and garlic. Add the tomatoes and their juice, bringing to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes until the tomatoes are softened.

Add the lentils and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes. You want the lentils softened. They should be a yellow-ish color and easy to mash.

Puree with a hand blender or in batches in the blender. Right before serving, stir in the lime juice. Garnish with yogurt or croutons.

Korean Seafood Pancakes

Really, I don't just copy The Kitchn. I promise!

A couple months ago, my friends Ed & Kari invited CCO and I over for brunch at their place and Kari made delicious Korean seafood pancakes. Being a cooking nerd, I took notes and photos! I had forgotten about it until recently, when I saw The Kitchn blogging on the same thing. I promise mine is better though.

Say hello to Kari. She uses this Asian pancake mix as the base. You can find it at H-Mart. But really it's just flour with some salt mixed in. So you can just substitute flour and a pinch of salt if there's no Asian grocery nearby.

Anyway, combine your pancake mix with 1 egg and the water. You should use an equal amount of pancake mix and liquid to make the batter. Assume the egg, if using, equals about 1/4 cup liquid. So if you're making two pancakes, use 3 cups mix and 2 3/4 cups water.

Once your batter is made, add in the seafood and stir until well mixed. You can use as much or as little as you want. Kari likes hers with a lot of seafood, so she puts in about 2 cups of frozen seafood mix that includes shrimp and squid. You could also use fresh.


The best pan to use for the pancake is a cast iron skillet. That gives it the nice browned crust on the pancake. After you've mixed the batter, preheat your skillet and grease with about 1 tbsp of oil.

Once the skillet is heated, use a spoon to ladle about half the pancake mix into the skillet.

The batter may be a little thick, so use your spoon to spread the batter out to the edge.


Kari likes to add the scallions on top of the pancake. Once it's cooked for about a minute, lay the scallions on top of the pancake and spoon a little of the batter on top.


We break from our regular scheduled programming so Kari can give a hug to her son, who wandered into the kitchen looking for food.

After the pancake has cooked for about 3-5 minutes, it should have browned and firmed up around the edges. You'll be able to see on the top that it's solid. Use a pancake flipper to lift separate the edges of the pancake from the pan, then flip over. Cook the pancake for another five minutes or so until it's cooked all the way through. You can cut into the middle a little with a knife or the edge of the pancake flipper to check.


Flip your cooked pancake out onto a plate and cut into wedges. Serve with the dipping sauce of soy sauce and rice vinegar.