. For the Love of Food, Travel and Wine: Pear and Goats Cheese Cake and Artichoke Pie

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Pear and Goats Cheese Cake and Artichoke Pie

I love pears, they are sweet, tasty, elegant, and goes well with spices that I like such as cinnamon star anise, and cloves.

I had some pears in the back of the fridge, along with a piece of goat's cheese.....and here is the result!!

Pear and Goats Cheese Cake

3 pears (ripe but firm)
70 grams of almond
2 tablespoons of sugar + 1/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of flour
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspoon of baking powder
100 grams of goat's cheese
1/2 bean of vanilla seeds
1 teaspoon of Vanilla essence
1 teaspoon of Almond essence
Milk
spices: cinnamon, cloves, star anise

Peel the pears. Place them in a pot with spices, and 1/4 cup of sugar. Barely cover them with water half way. Cook them for 3-4 minutes (they have to be firm). Take the pears out. Reduce the water until you have a consistency of a syrup. Let it cool.

Grin the almonds, and mix it with the flour. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Beat the egg whites until it form peaks. Beat the yolks with the sugar until it is creamy. Add the olive oil, the goat cheese, and vanilla seeds. Add the vanilla and almond essence. Incorporate the mix of flour and almond, and the baking powder. If necessary, then add a little bit of milk (like 2 tablespoons). Incorporate the beaten egg whites with slow movements.

Grease and floured a ramekin. Place a pear in the middle, and surround it with the mixture. Cook it n a preheated oven at 380-390 F for 30 minutes or until fully cooked. Before serving, make some holes with a bamboo stick, and moist it with the syrup. ENJOY!

Remember when I did the Mushrooms and Leek Pie? I did the same pie, and instead of mushrooms I used for the filling 70 grams of sliced almonds, and decorated it with olives. In addition, I used the same dough for an artichoke pie.

Artichoke Pie

10 artichokes (I use frozen hearts)

½ onion chopped

2 cloves garlic chopped

100 ml milk

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

60 g. grated parmigiano reggiano

110 grams of cheese cubes. I used a piece of emmenthal that I had on the fridge.

3 eggs

Salt

Oregano

Parsley (if desire)

In a pan, sautee the onion and garlic. Sautee the artichokes, and add water to cook them until they are tender. Let it cool.

Beat the milk and eggs. Season it with salt, oregano, parsley, and parmiggiano. Add this mixture to the artichokes.

After you have cooked the dough for 15-20 minutes as in the previous post, take it out from the oven, distribute the diced cheese, the artichoke mix on top, and cook it until is fully cooked. ENJOY!!