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Au Pear
(NOT from the Louise Woodward Cookbook)
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Here is a hint on how to become a gourmet cook. Give your dish a French sounding name, and you are 99%
there. It doesn't have to be French, just French sounding.
You, and most importantly, your friends, will be impressed with the simplicity and taste of this dessert.
Preparation time is so short that you can prepare it just before serving.
- Peel a fairly ripe pear (Bartlett is best but Anjou is allright ..any pair will do)
- Cut it in cube-like pieces, although any other shape is fine.
- Pour a soupçon of fruit liqueur (My favorite is Cherry Heering)
- Nuke it for ~ 1 minute until the pear is translucent.
- Pour onto a mound of plain yogurt then serve on top of thin slices of sponge cake or crepes/waffles/french
toast
Voila! The smell is amazing and the pears melt in your mouth.
Stains: Liqueur stains can best be cleaned by sprinkling salt over the stain
and pour boiling water over. Club soda is also a stain tonic.
Movies for inspiration:City of Angels, 1998
Seth: What's that like? What's it taste like? Describe it like Hemingway.
Maggie: Well, it tastes like a pear. You don't know what a pear tastes like?
Seth: I don't know what a pear tastes like to you.
Maggie: Sweet, juicy, soft on your tongue, grainy like a sugary sand that dissolves in your
mouth. How's that?
Seth: It's perfect.
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Hindenburg Soufflé
Goes up light and down in a flash
Contributed By David Max
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This is a recipe that some may call Tapioca pudding. This
simple dirigible dessert will fly and float.
Everyone loves Tapioca! Not only is it comfort food, but it also
brings back those sweet childhood memories.
- 1 quart milk
(Choose your percentage. You could go anywhere
from skim to a mixture of 1 pint whole milk and
1 pint of half and half.)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup granulated tapioca (see below for pearl tapioca)
1 tablespoon vanilla
- Mix the ingredients and put into a pan. Bake at 300F for
2hrs. Hey good things take time! You can peek at it every so often in anticipation
but it won't bake faster.
- At about 1 hour, give it a brief stir to make
sure that the tapioca isn't all sinking to the bottom or
floating to the top. You definitely don't want it to sink.
- When done, the pudding should have a hint of a skin on top.
- Chill and serve.
The end result should NOT have a stiff vulcanized rubber consistency.
It should be only lightly sweet with lots of milk and vanilla flavors.
Here is the recipe if you choose to use pearl tapioca:
- 1/2 cup pearl tapioca
- 2 cups milk
- 1 egg
- 1/6 cup sugar (how many tablespoons is that?)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Soak the tapioca pearls in water overnight in the
refrigerator. Drain off the excess water before using.
- Beat the egg. Mix all the ingredients into a baking pan
and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
- Bake in the oven
at 300F for about an hour and a half or until the
pudding has thickened. Use your intuition!
- Stir the pan about midway (when
it is still liquid) so that the pearls cook evenly and
don't all stay floating on top.
- Chill and serve. Note, the pudding will thicken further on its own
when it is chilled.
A special thanks to all my *true* friends who have endured the many testings
of the pudding.
Stains:
Milk or cream can be removed from washable materials by first sponge with lukewarm water,
and then washing as usual. If the material is not washable, sponge with dry cleaning fluid then with cold water.
Movies for inspiration: The Hindenburg (1975)with George C. Scott.
Reader Comments:
Tried the Hindenburg Souffle. Crash and Burn!
What we had was more of a tasty pan of goo. We were nostalgic though.
Response:
Check out
The Phundamental Pudding Principles, this should help.
