Roasted Pears And Dried Fruit Food

ROASTED PEAR SALAD

Steps:

• In a small bowl, toss pears with 1 teaspoon oil. Place in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Turn pears over; bake 5-7 minutes longer or until golden and tender., When cool enough to handle, peel pears. Thinly slice two pear halves lengthwise and set aside. Place remaining pear halves in a blender. Add the vinegar, water, honey, salt and white pepper; cover and process until smooth. While processing, gradually add the remaining oil in a steady stream., In a large bowl, toss the salad greens, watercress, hazelnuts and cranberries. Arrange reserved pear slices on top; drizzle with dressing.

PERFECT POACHED FRUIT

Steps:

• Place the vin santo, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla bean, and zests in a large, shallow saucepan with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact, and scoop out the seeds from the bottom with an apple corer or melon baller. Lay half the pears on their sides in the poaching liquid and simmer for 20 minutes, carefully turning the pears once with a spoon. Remove with a slotted spoon. Poach the remaining pears in the same liquid. Snip off the hard stems from the figs with scissors. Add the figs, apricots, prunes, and the first batch of poached pears and simmer 5 to 10 more minutes, until the pears and the dried fruit are all tender.
• Chill the pears, dried fruit, zests, and poaching liquid. Remove the cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla bean before serving if you like.

COMICE PEAR, DRIED FRUIT, AND HUCKLEBERRY CROSTATA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. To make the topping, measure the flour, polenta, sugar, salt, baking powder, and aniseeds into a food processor or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the butter and pulseor mix on medium-low speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and make a well in the center. Pour the egg into the well and toss the egg and flour together lightly and thoroughly with you fingers until evenly mixed. The mixture will not adhere in the manner of a dough, but will clump together if pressed in your palm. Set aside until needed. To make the filling, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss well until well mixed. Turn into a 2-quart shallow baking dish. Sprinkle the topping over the filling in a even layer. Do not press down. Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch the drips and place in the oven. Bake until the juices are bubbling up around the topping and the top is crisp, and golden brown, about 1 hour. Serve with ice cream if desired.

ROASTED PEARS AND DRIED FRUIT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, whisk together apple cider, 2 tablespoons sugar, and butter. Add pears, dried cherries, prunes, and lemon zest and juice; toss to combine.
• Cover with aluminum foil, and bake 15 minutes; remove foil and continue to bake, tossing once, until fruit is tender and beginning to brown, 20 to 25 minutes more.
• In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and remaining tablespoon sugar. Serve warm, or at room temperature, with sweetened sour cream.

PEARS AND DRIED FRUITS IN A TAGINE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Wash lemon and remove peel with a knife, trying to keep it in one long string. Squeeze juice from 1/2 of the lemon into a small saucepan. Add honey, cinnamon stick, and vanilla bean. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until fragrant and syrupy, about 5 minutes.
• Arrange pears, core-sides up, in a tagine. Add prunes, apricots, almonds, and lemon peel around the pears and on top if necessary. Pour lemon juice mixture over top allowing cinnamon stick and vanilla bean halves to fall into the tagine. Cover.
• Cook in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and take off the cover, allowing any condensation to fall back into the tagine. Turn pears over and add pine nuts. Replace the cover and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the oven off, and allow the tagine to sit in the hot oven until sauce thickens a bit, about 10 minutes. Serve.

CRANBERRY SAUCE EXTRAORDINAIRE

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, boil water and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat to simmer, and stir in cranberries, pureed orange, apple, pear, dried fruit, pecans, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries burst. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature.

SLOW-COOKER ROAST PORK WITH FRUIT

Steps:

• Place onion in 4- to 5-quart slow cooker. Place pork on onion; top with fruit. Mix remaining ingredients; pour over fruit.
• Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 9 hours or until pork is tender. Serve fruit mixture over pork. Note: This recipe was tested in slow cookers with heating elements in the side and bottom of the cooker, not in cookers that stand only on a heated base. For slow cookers with just a heated base, follow the manufacturer's directions for layering ingredients and choosing a temperature.

BRANDIED DRIED FRUIT

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the currants, cranberries, cherries, pears and apricots. Zest the orange and add the zest to the bowl. Add the lemon, ginger, anise seeds, black pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom.
• Juice the orange and add the liquid to the bowl. Add the brandy and stir to combine. Transfer the mixture to a jar, cover and refrigerate. (If you don't have a jar that's large enough, keep the mixture in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.) Allow the fruit to sit in the liquid for 2 to 14 days before using. The flavor of the fruit, spices and brandy will improve with time. At least once a day, turn the jar upside-down (or thoroughly stir the mixture if it's in a bowl) to make sure all the dried fruit gets coated in the brandied liquid. The mixture keeps in the refrigerator for months, stored in an airtight container.

PEAR AND DRIED-FRUIT CRISP WITH NUTMEG-WALNUT STREUSEL

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
• Coat a 12 inch glass baking dish with grease or butter.
• Whisk first 4 ingredients (flour, sugar, nutmeg and salt)in a medium bowl.
• Add butter; rub in with fingers until mixture clumps together. Mix in walnuts.
• Place next 6 ingredients (sugar, unsalted butter, orange juice, orange peel, vanilla, salt). in large skillet. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to a boil.
• Add dried fruit; reduce heat to medium and simmer until fruit soften and liquid is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
• Add chopped pears and amaretto. Mix completely and simmer another 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat and spread in baking dish. Sprinkle streusel mixture on top.
• Bake until bubbling and golden; about 1 hour.
• Cool and serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.