Baked Pears with Mascarpone Cheese Cream

I've made roasted pears with mascarpone cheese twice this fall and each time they have been perfect.  Any kind of pear works. Nice red ones on the holiday!

The great thing about this is that the pears can be somewhat unripe. A bit crunchy to the bite. But perfect baked.  

Cut pears in half. Leave stem in or out. Cut out (or if very ripe, scoop out) the seeds and core. You want a good soup spoon hollow in each pear.

Place them cut side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a buttered dish. Fill cavity with honey and butter or brown sugar and butter. Add some nuts if  desired. Place a cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamom pod next to the pears if you want. Bake for about 15-20 minutes at 375 degrees until the juices are flowing and you have a caramelized run-off.  Make sure they aren't mushy, so test after 15 minutes to see how nicely a knife slices through. Then bake another 5-10 minutes cut side down.   

Take about 1/8 cup mascarpone for each pear and whip with a little cream to make a whipped topping. (I use an immersion blender. Mix with a little honey and the caramelized juice.  Maybe a little lemon.  Vanilla or other extract (coffee?)Or a liqueur.  Get creative. Spoon some of the caramelized juice on the plate, place a dollop of cream into each pear. Sprinkle with sweetened sugar (vanilla sugar or lemon sugar, for instance) and chopped nuts (pistachios?) Or serve with the cinnamon stick, star anise and cardamom on the plate.

Delicious!

Goda's Masala

Goda Masala (Grandmother’s Spice Blend) 

I double and quadruple this recipe to make small jars for friends. 

1 Tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut; 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds; 1 tsp. sesame seeds; 1 tsp. poppy seeds; 3 whole cloves; 1 stick cinnamon; 1dried red chilis; 3 cardamom seeds. All toasted briefly in a scant 2 tsp. oil, cooled and ground. 

 Toss a pinch into cooked rice or grains, or steamed vegetables. Delicious sprinkled on cakes, sweets, ice cream.

This recipe is from Urvashi Pitre's Indian Instant Pot® Cookbook: Traditional Indian Dishes Made Easy and Fast

Roasted Pumpkin 5-Spice Ice Cream

I love pumpkin ice cream. Other pumpkin flavors don't really turn me on, although I do like a slice of pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie every so often. This recipe is not sweet, but has wonderful, rich pumpkin flavor. The 5-Spice gives it just the right touch of spice. I garnished a scoop with chopped pecans and a drizzle of our honey.

 I decided to make Jeni's Roasted Pumpkin 5-Spice Ice Cream last weekend. I had what I thought was a Kabocha pumpkin. I apparently didn't! It must have been a Pie pumpkin - lots of dark orange meat with a very dark orange skin. I roasted it and had plenty for the ice cream. The base is very different from the other ice creams, so I will list all the ingredients here:

1 small pie pumpkin, Kabocha, or other dark, savory squash 

2 cups whole milk 1 T plus 1 tsp. cornstarch

1-1/4 c. heavy cream 

1-1/2 oz. cream cheese, softened 

1/4 tsp. fine sea salt 

1/4 c. honey 

2/3 c. packed light brown sugar 

2 T. light corn syrup 

1 T. Chinese 5-spice powder 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and membranes. Place cut side down on a bakin sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes, until soft when pierced with a fork. Let cool slightly. Scoop the flesh into a food processor and puree until completely smooth. It should not be watery; if is is, let sit in a sieve for an hour or until it is thick like that that comes in a can.

Measure out 3/4 cup for the ice cream and reserve the rest for another use. Mix about 2 T of the milk with the cornstarch in a small bowl to make a smooth slurry. Whisk the cream cheese and salt in a medium bowl until smooth and add the pumpkin puree and the honey and whisk until smooth. Fill a large bowl with ice and water. Heat the milk and cream on low heat. Add the brown sugar, light corn syrup, turn up the heat to medium and bring to a boil, stirring so that it does not burn for four minutes. Turn off heat or remove pan from electric burner. Add the Chinese 5-Spice powder and stir. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and stir until dissolved. Boil for one more minute. Take off heat. Take one cup of the hot custard and stir with the pumpkin, honey, cream cheese/salt. If it is lumpy, use an immersion blender and add another cup of custard. Stir all together and pour into a cold pan that sits in the large bowl with ice water. Cool for about an hour. Process as ice cream.

Honey- & Fig Balsamic Roast Lamb Shanks

 I found some lamb shanks we had had in the freezer since we moved from Norwood. Walden Meat had triple-wrapped them, so they were still perfectly-frozen and nice and meaty.

I used  this recipe by Rachel Hanawalt from Simple Seasonal and adapted it somewhat. Instead of plain balsamic vinegar, I used Fig Dark Balsamic from LeRoux Kitchen.   

SimpleSeasonal.com

Mix 2 T flour with 1/8 tsp each of cumin, rosemary and thyme, and 2 dashes of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. sea salt. 

In the crockpot, place the shanks and cover with flour mixture. Turn shanks over and cover with any flour on the bottom.  Pour over the shanks: 1 cup of chicken broth, 1/2 c red wine, 1 Tbp. honey and 1/4 cup of the fig balsamic.  Toss 1 large yellow onion cut into large chunks. Place the lamb on top and grind salt and pepper generously over the top. Place fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs on top (if you have them. Place the potatoes on top of the meat.

Cook 5 hours on high in the crockpot. Mix the potatoes into the juices for the last hour.

• 2 Tbsp flour
• ⅛ tsp cumin
• ⅛ tsp rosemary
• ⅛ tsp thyme
• 2 dashes of cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 C chicken broth
• ½ C red wine
• ¼ C fig-balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 2-4 small lamb shanks
• 1 sweet yellow onion cut into sixths
• Fresh rosemary and thyme sprigs
• Several yellow potatoes cut into wedges
  

Lebanese 7 Spice

 I've been doing a lot of instant pot cooking AND Indian cooking lately. Today, though, I decided to make lamb shanks using a recipe calling for Lebanese 7 Spice.

Here's the combination. I had to grind the fenugreek seeds into powder:

1 Tbsp. each of ground allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, ginger, and fenugreek.

I made two recipes and will give one away with a recipe for lamb.

Birthday Cake Ice Cream

Make Jeni's Vanilla Ice Cream base. I added ground vanilla bean to the base or Vanilla Bean Puree to the base.

When the ice cream is nearly done freezing, mix in a generous amount of rainbow sprinkles and freeze four hours.

BANANA HONEY ICE CREAM

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 3 large, very ripe bananas
• 8 egg yolks
• 7 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons orange blossom or clover honey

In a large saucepan, scald the cream and milk with the vanilla bean. Remove from heat, cover and let flavor infuse for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mash bananas well or puree briefly in a food processor, set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the egg yolks and the sugar for a few minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is thick and pale yellow, set aside. Reheat cream mixture to scalding and about 1/4 of it into the egg yolks, whisk continuously. Return mixture to the saucepan and whisk together with remaining cream.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon. Pour into a bowl and whisk a few times to release heat. Stir in banana puree, sour cream and honey. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer. Chill. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s instructions.

From The Lovely Food Blog