I am in the middle of a pear harvest. I have so many pears, I'm constantly cooking them down into pear butter, which greatly reduces their volume and cranks up the concentrated flavor. This afternoon I will be making some pear chutney.But.
What's wrong with eating pears fresh, the way the tree intended?
Nothing at all!
We've had quite a few of them simply washed and cut off the core.
And to get a little fancy, we sliced off "fillets" of pear and topped them with prosciutto and blue cheese. (That was fancy enough for company. I like to call a lucky stumble-upon like that "restaurant worthy." Happens once in a while, usually the simpler the better.)
But it took the imagination of a couple of friends, who had been recipients of a sack of our pears and a bag of fresh arugula from our garden, to come up with a "one-louder" interpretation of local eating. Pear-arugula salad.
I'll try that next.
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13 comments:
Oh, I am gonna post about the pear-arugula salad soon -- now that our hosting company has decided to give us back control of the blog. Grr.
meanwhile - I have some leftover jamon serrano that I now know exactly what to do with.
Anita: The salty meat on the moist, sweet pear planks... Sigh. (Of course, the cheese was Pt. Reyes.)
yum and yum!
I'm starting some espalier dwarf pear trees in the spring and cannot wait to have this pear bounty in my very own garden!
OK, finally able to post:
http://marriedwithdinner.com/id=1004
Both dishes look delicious. I think I am going to try my luck with a salad tonight. No pears but I do have blue cheese. No telling what else I will be able to scrounge from the fridge.
i have pear envy! i love pears so freakin much! and you could put blue cheese on a bumper and i'd eat it!
Inspired pairing - wow! I love fruit with prosciutto and the blue cheese would rock with that combo! Sweet, salt, savory all in the same bite. Will my keyboard short out if I drool on it?
Lovely pairing!
Have you thought about making a fruit paste with your pears - to eat with cheese. Our lovely Maggie Beer makes all kinds, including a pear one - go see http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/products/details/?Item=PrdctsSpicedPe
my pear tree is also bearing fruit but they are HARD as rocks! This doesn't stop the birds from enjoying them but seems like all i can make with them (after the struggle cutting them up) is chutney. :( Any tips on how to get them to soften on the tree?
My mother told me that I would finally be an adult if I started to like blue cheese. She was so right.
And ccw: your type of pear might only ripen off the tree. Bartletts like CC's are the tree-ripening kind.
Kelly: Fun and fun! Good luck with your trees. It would never have occurred to me to plant a pear tree. But there it is! Yum and yum!
Anita: Hah! Awesome.
Dagny: No pears? Poor you... ;-)
Stacie: You crack me up.
Zoomie: We've had it twice this way now. (Didn't use up all the prosciutto the first time.) Might hafta buy more.
Pille: Thank you, darling.
Mouse: Ah! You mean much stiffer than my pear butter. Roast it all the way down to membrillo (quince paste) consistency! Yessss.
CCW: In my vast, three-month experience with a pear tree, I can only say that most of my pears (Bartletts) are dropping off the tree unripe. In about a week, they turn yellow and tender. It's amazing how little I knew about pears and ripening before now, but the secret is to WAIT.
El: That's scary. I might have tree-ripening pears? Out of control.
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