Roasted Pear and Pepita Salad

I live on the West Coast. I have for almost 6 years now, and I love it. I love the mountains, the ocean, the people, the attitude. I suspect I will stay here for a very long time. My biggest knock on this side of the country, in fact, is the lack of my family. My family has a long tradition of being to the east. While Toronto isn’t really that far east, despite what Vancouverites say, I do have family all the way down the coast, from Nova Scotia to Florida. And I was born over there too in Washington D.C..

It’s been hard today not to spend the whole day looking at pictures of the devestation from Hurricane Sandy. It was hard last night to sleep, knowing my sister was alone in Brooklyn with only broccoli in her fridge. It was tough not to think about my relatives in Boston and my friends in Washington. So I did what I always do when I panic. I cooked.

I didn’t make anything fussy, or fancy, or particularly hard. I made a simple salad, with roasted pears and pepitas and I ate it watching the news, convinced the wind was going to knock down my sisters building or that my cousins would be washed away with the tide.

But there was something, something little, but something none the less, about the roasted pears that made me feel better.  

Roasted Pear and Pepita Salad 

Serves 4

4 Bosc Pears

4 cups Baby Arugula or other sharp greens.

1 cup Fresh squash/pumpkin seeds, or dried. 

1/2 head Fennel, thinly sliced. 

1 tsp Fresh Rosemary, minced

1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp Dijon Mustard

5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut pears in half lengthwise. 

Using a melon baller, or a small spoon, cut out the core. 

Put the pears face up on a baking tray, rub with a bit of olive oil and bake until pears are cooked through, about 30 minutes. 

In a small frying pan heat up 1 tbsp of the olive oil. 

Add in the seeds and cook until lightly browned. Salt generously and mix in the rosemary. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl mix together the vinegar and mustard. Slowly add in the remaining oil and mix well. 

Mix together the arugula and fennel and toss with dressing. Top with pepitas and pears. Serve immediately. 

The Show Off

 

This is not a cake for the faint of heart. This is not a cake to throw together after work, or a cake to make for a kids birthday. Oh no. It will take several hours to make, and multiple steps and some patience. This cake is a labour of love. But, this isn’t a hard dessert to make, just a time consuming one I promise. And if you time yourself well, and make a few things the night before you won’t hate yourself for saying you’ll make it. And when your friends see the cake you’ve made, they will be intensely impressed. This is a show off cake. This is the cake to make if your boss is coming over for dinner, or for an anniversary. Or if your me, with to much time on your hands it’s what you make when you have friends coming for dinner on Friday night.

Crepe Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache and Poached Pears

This is a long process, you will want to make the ganache first, because it takes several hours to firm up. Then make the crepe batter, because it will take at least an hour to cool. The poach the pears, then make the crepes. Then assemble it all!

Ganache:

500g Heavy Cream

250g Dark Chocolate, finely chopped

1tsp Vanilla Extract

Bring the cream and vanilla up to a boil

Pour over chocolate.

Let is sit for a couple of minutes, then stir. It may seem to take a while but it will get smooth!

Crepes

6 eggs

7 tbsp Sugar

1tsp Salt

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/3 cup Butter

3 cups Milk

In a pot bring melt the butter. Keep it on the heat until it is very frothy, stirring regularly. In a couple of minutes the milk solids will start to get brown and it will smell nutty.

Immediately pour the milk in and bring it to just belove a simmer.

Meanwhile mix the eggs and the sugar in a mixer with the whisk attachment.

Add in the flour and then slowly pour in the milk and butter mixture.

Whisk until you have nearly no lumps.

Cover and set to cool in the fridge.

Bring a small frying pan, not stick if you have it to medium heat.

Put a small nub of butter into the pan and tilt the pan to either side until the whole pan is covered.

Pour about a quarter cup of batter into the pan. It should spread pretty thin.

Let it start to bubble up a bit the tilt the pan to let excess from the middle spread to the sides.

Carefully, with a rubber spatula, push the edges gently and shake the pan until the whole crepe is moving.

Flip the crepe, with a spatula if your new to this, or with a flick of the wrist if your an old pro, and let it cook another minute on the second side.

 Slide it onto a plate and go for the next! Repeat until the batter is finished, this will take a while.

Poached Pears

5 medium sized firm pears, I used Anjou.

1 cup sugar

1tbsp Vanilla Extract

Zest of an orange, peeled with a vegetable peeler into thick strips

Peel pears.

Cut them into quarters and core them.

Put them into a pot with sugar, vanilla and zest. Cover with water.

Bring to a simmer and gently cook for about 10 minutes or until just becoming translucent and are soft enough to cut with a spoon. Take off the heat and let cool.

Assemble

Slice the pears into thin strips.

Put a dollop of ganache on your plate

Lay a crepe down, spread it with ganache, then layer some pears on top.

Put a small dop of ganache onto the next crepe and place it face down on the crepe before, the ganache will work as glue to keep the layers from separating.

Repeat, repeat repeat.

 I used about 17 layers of crepes, and now I’m writing this while eating the left overs.

I then used some pear slices on top to decorate it and sprinkled some icing sugar on top too.

I hope you make this cake,and I hope you like it as much as we did!