Pears

I have always fostered a daydream about one day living in a house with a big green space full of fruit trees and an edible garden. . .

Maybe this dream comes from having read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too many times and falling in love with the incredible concept that you can walk into a totally edible space. I think being a chef is kind of like creating your own edible world like this. Walking into a kitchen is like walking into someone’s chocolate factory full of ingredients and spices and endless flavors. Luckily, I haven’t heard of anyone turning into a blueberry yet.

The closest I think I have come to this fruit tree daydream, since I have pretty much always lived in an urban place, was when I was 17 years old and took a trip to Home Depot. There was this crooked, beautiful snow pear tree that was barely as tall as I was. I bought it for $20 and brought it home to my apartment and planted it in the 5 ft x 5 ft sq garden patch in front of the door. While I still lived there, I spoke to it regularly and petted its trunk. I loved that tree like one would a pet. It took years for it to grow (still crooked!) and produce fruit, and in the meantime, I had moved to Berlin, Germany and started my career as a designer and artist. My mother moved to a different place, but a neighbor started making jam from the pears each August. Apparently, this crooked tree is still causing controversy in the house to this day, but for me it was the first step towards a life I am still building over a decade later.

The fruit itself seems to have the same influence in the world as it does in dishes: smooth, juicy, and refreshing.

Strangely, pears are essentially apples. There are just barely different enough as cultivars to be considered a separate fruit altogether. The snow pear is one of the closest relatives to what was one of the first pears ever existing in ancient China. Pears travelled along the silk road and made their way into the hearts of middle-easterners and Europeans, changing along the way to create D’Anjou and Bosc pears that are more common around the USA. Each of these pears has specialized attributes and best practices to eat them. They are possibly more different than different apples are.

Pears and apples need to be grafted to grow. So, if you plant a pear seed in the ground you will get a kind of “crab pear” that birds love, but you probably won't be a fan of.

They are bitter and hard and small. Instead, if you want to grow pears, you will have to find a branch of an already existing pear tree. If you foster and plant this branch, it will grow roots and turn into another pear tree with moist luscious fruit to enjoy!

Fall is the time for pears and there is something luxurious about them. I think this association is very strong in the recipes to follow. The gentle sweetness of the pear lends itself well to counter strong flavors like blue cheese, walnut paste or dark chocolate. Pears, when ripe, can offer an incredible freshness to more hearty meals like short ribs. Pears act as a burst of relief in otherwise overbearing flavor combinations. They are like the fresh buds that pop out too early at the end of winter: joy incarnate.

Pear Recipes

Dark Chocolate Pear Pie with Ginger Sesame Crust

• 2 ripe bosc pears, cleaned & cored & sliced
• 2 ripe Anjou pears, cleaned & cored & sliced
• ½ dark chocolate shavings
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp rose water
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rum
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• ¼ cup white sesame seeds
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour or multigrain/white flour mix
• 1 stick butter (unsalted), cool and cut into cubes + 2 Tsp butter for greasing
• ½ cup cool milk or water • ½ tsp fine salt
• 1/3 cup white sugar

Instructions

Gather ingredients. Combine bosc & Anjou pear slices with cinnamon, rose water, brown sugar, vanilla extract and rum and allow to marinate for 1 hour. Thoroughly butter the pie pan.
Combine flour, salt, sugar, ginger and sesame seeds in a bowl and stir until evenly dispersed. Work in the butter cubes until a crumble is created. Slowly add in the cool milk or water while working the dough until it just combines and creates a smooth ball.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap or in a bowl with a beeswax cloth covering it and place in refrigerator for 45 minutes.
In the meantime, heat oven to 350 degrees.
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow it to warm just enough so that you can work with it (it should still be cool!). Roll out the dough on a flour dusted surface until it is evenly ¼ inch thick.
Gently place rolled out dough on the buttered pie pan and push it gently so that it conforms to the form of the pan. Cut off the excess dough that is folded over the edges.
Bake pie dough in the oven for 20 minutes (with parchment paper and pie weights, if using).
Stir chocolate into the pear mixture.
Take the pie crust out of the oven and fill with the pear mixture (possibly adding a little center design out of excess pie dough).
Bake for 25-35 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the inner mixture is bubbling throughout.
Allow to cool completely.
Enjoy! (This one is especially good with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream).

Pear and Poppy Buchteln (Austrian Sweet Rolls)

• 4 ½ cups wheat flour

• 4 egg yolks + 2 whole eggs

• ½ cup sugar

• 1 cup warm milk

• 2 ½ tsp instant yeast or 4 tsp sourdough

• ½ tsp salt

• 5 tsp room temperature butter + 2 tsp for buttering + 3 Tsp melted for drizzling

• 2 ripe Anjou pears, cored and sliced

• ¾ cup poppyseeds, soaked and crushed

• ½ cup dried cranberries

• ½ cup sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 tsp orange blossom water or rum

• ¼ cup powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Gather ingredients. Add yeast into the warm milk, stir and allow to sit while beginning the dough (it should begin to bubble).

2. Using a kitchen machine with the paddle fixture at medium-low, cream the room temperature butter with the sugar. Once smooth, add the eggs, egg yolks and milk-yeast mixture until fully combined.

3. Change the paddle to the dough hook and turn the kitchen machine to low. Add flour one cup at a time. Increase the speed to medium-low once combined and allow to knead for 10 minutes until smooth.

4. In the meantime, butter a large bowl.

5. Turn off the kitchen machine and gently remove the dough, placing it in the buttered bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to sit for 30 minutes.

6. In the meantime, combine the cored & sliced pears with the poppyseeds, dried cranberries, sugar, vanilla extract and orange blossom water in a food processor. Process into a chunky paste.

7. Generously butter a baking pan.

8. Knead the dough gently for two rounds and then replace in the bowl. Allow to sit for another 15 minutes. Repeat.

9. Once the dough has sat and grown to double its size, gently remove from the bowl and place on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 16 equal pieces.

10. Take each piece one at a time, flattening it in your hand and creating a little bowl at the center. Fill the little bowl with 1 tsp of poppy mixture. Gently pinch, pull, and pinch the edges toward the middle like a dumpling to close each roll. Try to work quickly.

11. Place each roll in the buttered baking pan next to each other until filled.

12. Pour the melted butter evenly over the filled dough balls in the baking pan.

13. Cover with the towel once more and allow to sit for another 30 minutes.

14. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

15. Place the baking pan in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown, turning the pan once for an even bake.

16. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15-25 minutes.

17. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm. Enjoy!

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