Simple dessert that bears repeating.

A couple of weeks ago we had a friend come over for dinner and being a weeknight affair we didn't want anything to heavy or involved for dessert. I found inspiration from another blog that I follow: A Taste of Savoie.


I had to tinker with the ingredients to reflect what was available to me...no fresh juniper berries and I like to drink my wine... but the rest of it was a snap. There is very litte preparation time involved and the lengthy bake time can be done while you are eating your dinner. All in all it is an easy solution for the what to serve for dessert on a weeknight.

Poached Pears in Wine, Vinegar and Orange Peel with Cloves

adapted from A Taste of Savoie.

• 4 hard pears,
• 8 fl oz dry red wine
• 8 fl oz organic cider vinegar
• 6 tbsp sugar or a shy 1/4 cup
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• rind from one clean thick skinned orange
• about 2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Before baking preheat oven to 375F. To prepare pears peel and leave leave core and stem. Combine wine, vinegar, sugar, cloves and orange rind with a fresh squeeze of orange juice (about 2 tbsp worth) in a small sauce pan. Warm through to dissolve the sugar.  Place pears, side down in a casserole dish*, pour in liquid, cover with a lid and bake at 375F for 30 minutes, rotate and bake another 30 minutes.

To serve put in a small bowl pour liquid over top of the pear. A dessert spoon or fork will easily cut through the flesh from the fruit. 

The sauce can be made ahead of time but I recommend peeling the pears shortly before use, as they will turn brown and start to dry out. 

*The casserole dish should be big enough to hold the pears but not too big. Ideally you want the liquid to come up the sides of the pears.

I cooked an extra pear the next day just so that I could cut it up and show a cross section of the slices. The colour from the wine that permeated the flesh was a beautiful crimson contrast to the juicy moist white fruit.

photos by me.

A combined effort

Saturday night we still had some Pizza dough left over from the previous nights festivities. As in last week's attempt, the dough with the higher proportion of whole wheat did not rise in time for the main event- Luckily, to not disappoint my guests I knew that this was a distinct possibility, my daughter and I made a back up dough using less whole wheat flour. The "just in case" dough saved my butt and my guests not disappointed. 


But what to do with the remaining dough? After one too many glasses of wine my husband and I forgot about the dough rising in the back, it was left out over night. The next morning in a panic barely roused from bed I ran to check its progress. I was expecting the worst, a doughy gooey mess uncontainable by the bowl.  What I found was a nicely risen dough and that is when my husband and I hatched our plan. I gently punched it down and left it until later.


Ever since we got our latest and last issue of Gourmet Magazine my husband had been eyeing a particular Pizza Patate (p36)   a recipe by Jim Lahey and the author of my bread- The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method. We didn't need to use Lahey's particular dough recipe but my husband was just as eager to do the "potato pizza" part.The results were spectacular. The high whole wheat dough was perfect for this dish and due to the extra long ferment and rise, had a well developed crumb. I may even be as bold as to say that the whole wheat component may even be better suited to this dish as it gave a rich nutty flavour that was harmonious with the crispy potatoes and sweet onions; then again I will have to try a side by side.


As well as being an ideal autumn comfort meal, it is also a predominately local one. The potatoes are from one of the years last farmer's market, rosemary from our backyard and the whole wheat flour from the Urban Grains CSA.


Photo by me.