Recently I tinkered around with making a pear ice cream for the annual lab pear contest among several third floor labs. It ended being closer to a sorbet due to how much I cut down on butterfat addition so that the pear flavors would shine through. I made some blackberry-pear sauce, pecan buttercrunch, and sticks of baked waffle cone batter to go along with it. This ice cream freezes a little harder than normal ice cream, so it needs a bit of extra time at room temp to reach a nice scoopable consistency.

Recipe for 1 quart of Pear Ice Cream ala Jules

My measurements switch from metric to american depending if I am weighing things or measuring them out in my american cups. This is just how I did it.

Mix the following:
• 800g pear puree

• roast ~ 10 pears packed in kosher salt
• 375F, 50 min
• cool, core and peel
• blend with 100g sugar + ~ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• strain from a mesh sieve to reduce grittiness. This should yield around 1000g of puree

• 1 tsp vanilla extract (5 ml)
• 200g caramelized sugar

• I cooked this sugar with a little of the pear puree until it melted and caramelized a little, then mixed it back into the rest of the puree

• ¼ tsp salt (I used kosher salt)
• 60g nonfat dry milk
• 1 ½ cups whole milk (~350 ml)

Cover with saran wrap, and let everything meld overnight (mainly for the nonfat dry milk)

Churn in ice cream maker, or the old fashioned way.

So our lab always has plentiful amounts of pears around this time of year because of a study we do with a pear farm. A pear cook off was suggested by our rival lab, where the winning lab would be determined by the averaged scores of all participating lab members, based on presentation, taste and originality by a panel of unbiased judges (aka members of other labs) . No spouses or significant others could help out, and the main component of the dish had to be made with pears. In summary, we won! I was told by one of the rival bosses that we should have a pear off next year because he wanted to see what I would come up with next. Mwahahah.. I paired a pear panna cotta (based on the Pear, Foie Gras, Sauternes and Chervil panna cotta from the Alinea Cookbook) with a lemon curd sauce as well as a red wine fig reduction, as I thought the brightness of the sauces would complement the mellow panna cotta. Pear puree, lemon and lemon thyme were elements that tied the panna cotta and two sauces together. The recipe is easily scalable, but I’m too lazy to scale it for you right now. Makes one 9*13 pan aka A Lot since I wanted extra in case I made mistakes cutting out the shapes for the cook off. But really, you could use whatever pan you want, as you are just making adult jello. The panna cotta was ~2.5 cm tall, including the white wine layer on top.

Roast Pear Puree I used this in the panna cotta as well as the two sauces. There will probably be leftover puree. I’m sure you can find uses for it. (modified from the Alinea Cookbook)

10 pears (~140 g each, yielding ~100g puree after the core and peel were removed)
1500 g kosher salt (about 1 box of Morton’s)
100 g sugar Heat oven to 375F.
lemon juice

Pack pears in kosher salt and put in oven for 1 hour. Allow to cool, and carefully remove pears from salt. I used a wooden spoon to crack the salt casings. Brush off most of the salt, peel and core. Blend pears and sugar on high speed 2-3 minutes until super smooth. Taste. Add in lemon juice to brighten the mellowness of the pear puree. Taste. I also ran this puree through a tamis so that I removed some of the pear grittiness to make a smoother puree.

Pear Panna Cotta with White Wine Gel (modified from the Alinea Cookbook)

7 gelatin sheets (I used Gelita Gold Gelatin Sheets)
700 g roast pear puree 140 g heavy cream
77 g sugar
7 g kosher salt

Line a 9*13 pan completely with plastic wrap. Immerse gel sheets in ice water for 5 minutes before use. Squeeze on excess water. In a sauce pan, combine the gelatin, puree, cream, sugar, and kosher salt over low heat. Stir until dissolved. Pour into baking dish and set in fridge ~2 hrs.

White Wine Gel

2-1/2 sheets gelatin*
200g dessert wine**

Same as before. Rehydrate gelatin, squeeze out excess water. Stir gelatin and wine over low heat until gelatin has fully dissolved. Cool it a bit, and then pour on top of panna cotta layer. Put back in fridge.

*I used Gelita Bronze sheets because I didn’t have enough gold sheets. They should be relatively equivalent, as the bronze sheets are heavier to account for lower bloom strength. I found I also had to use a higher amount of gelatin than in the puree because the alcohol resulted in a lower melting temp aka the top layer turned liquid after an hour at room temp the first time I tried it.

** I used a muscat wine, though Achatz recommended Sauternes, which I would rather drink than put in a gel on top.

Lemon Curd Sauce

Lemon thyme sprigs
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
Roast Pear Puree

Over low heat, add in the thyme, butter, lemon juice and sugar. Beat eggs in separate container. When the lemon sugar butter mixture is fully dissolved, slowly drizzle half of the mixture into the eggs while stirring to warm the eggs through. Then pour the mixture back into the pot. Stir over low heat until lemon curd coats spoon. Strain out lemon thyme sprigs. Take some pear puree, and add in spoonfuls of lemon curd until you can taste the lemon notes, but it doesn’t overpower the pear flavor. This makes ~3/4 of a Petite Maman jam jar’s worth

Red Wine Reduction

1/4 cup of lemon thyme infused sugar water (1:2 sugar:water)^^
1-1/4 cups Pinot Noir
4 thin slices lemon
Dash of cinnamon
Splash of Vanilla Extract
6 fresh Mission Figs

Add in all the ingredients except the figs. Reduce for 15 minutes at a boil. Taste. Remove lemon slices and turn heat down to a simmer. Add in a few spoonfuls of Roast Pear Puree to your liking. Taste. I added in some honey here to make it a little more sweet. Cut figs in half and lay them face down and poach for 5 minutes. Flip them over and poach for another 5 minutes. Remove poached figs to a container, and reduce wine sauce to your liking.

^^I had some lying around from making candied pear and lemon thyme garnishes. You could just throw in a sprig of lemon thyme instead. Or not even add it, no worries

CC girl: “Oh, I haven’t tried this batch yet. Oh wow, there are so many holes this time.” *munch munch* “Hmm… it tastes different from the last batch.”

Me: “Uh, good or bad?”

CC girl: “Oh, not good or bad, just … different”

I guess that should have been a big clue. No salesperson would tell you that their product is off. It’s just “different” and “unique”. Oh, those imperfections in that vase? That’s how you know it’s HANDMADE. That’s what makes it so UNIQUE. (I admit I sometimes buy into this philosophy).

In any case, I think I shall stick to their softies until they get a few more hard cheese batches under their belt.

I’m really enjoying all the fresh asparagus that’s been coming in our CSA boxes. Quickly sauteed with salt and pepper + a soft egg and melted cheddar on toasted sourdough.

On Saturday Jules and I wanted to go on a hike so we drove north in search of a trailhead. We passed by one little lake that only had some fishermen and no signs of trails. Even though I thought Lake Berryessa would have more boat-happy people, we made our way over there.

As it turns out, we were the only ones in the parking lot. In fact, when we got there we didn’t see anyone on the lake at all. No boats, no people. So we decided to walk along the edge of the lake for a while. The water level looked low, but with the recent rains, some of the plants that had started to grow near the water line had become submerged. You can’t really tell from my photo, but there were bubbles forming on the leaves of the plants. Oxygen creation in action?

We continued to hike around and watch the water fowl. Eventually we made our way to a small hilltop overlooking the lake and I gave Jules her birthday present: a small blue bag from Tiffany & Co. I let her unwrap it until she got to the ring case and I promptly snatched it back. I sheepishly got on one knee, opened the ring case and blurted out “willyoumarryme?” at such a rate that Jules didn’t even hear what I said. But she assumed correctly and said yes. At that point I looked at the ring case and noticed I was holding it upside down. Why would the bigger half be on top? That doesn’t make any sense.

After she said yes I proceeded to try and put the ring on her finger. Failure! The ring was too small. So we had to pack it up for later.

After a little while we decided to leave the lake and check out a dam that we saw on the map. The dam itself ended up being fenced off but we got a pretty good view from the parking area. Apparently it has one of the largest spillways of any dam. They actually referred to it on the sign as the “glory hole.” Perhaps they didn’t know?

After the dam we returned back to Yountville to prepare for dinner at Ad Hoc!

While I stayed fairly true to ingredient amounts, I modified the oven time to account for my individual pans and reviewer comments on how the bake times were too short. I paced about nervously like a soccer mom with too much caffeine. I would turn on the oven lights every ten minutes or so, and violently shake the oven so I could see how much the cheesecake jiggled- much like what people do to the vending machines that refuse to relinquish their product. And the verdict always was: Still jiggly! Curses!

Back to more pacing for ten minutes before I would check again. Mike thought I was a bit loopy. The cheesecake was still very jiggly after 1.5 hours. I gave up and found that it set nicely after I turned off the oven. Whew. The end result turned out quite well.

AB Cheesecake Recipe, modified to produce four smaller cheesecakes:

Crust:
* 1 sleeve plus a few Honeymaid graham crackers
* 3/4 unsalted butter (3 oz) plus a lil
* 1 tablespoon sugar

Filling:
* 20 ounces cream cheese
* 1 1/4 cups sour cream
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 3 yolks
* 1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line individual pans with foil, and brush with butter. Fill two large pyrex pans with hot hot water (boiling would be better, but I just turned the tap to the hottest possible setting because I’m lazy) and place in oven to preheat.

Combine crumbled graham crackers, melted butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Press mixture into the bottom of each pan. Place remaining crumbs on foil and bake both the crust and the remaining mixture for 10 minutes. Cool. Reserve additional crumb mixture for sides.

Beat sour cream for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and cup of sugar and mix for 30 seconds or so. More if you have lumps.

In a separate container, combine vanilla, eggs/yolks and heavy cream in a small bowl. Slowly pour this mixture into the cream cheese mixture while stirring with a spatula. Once completely combined, pour into cooled crusts.

Lower oven temperature to 275 degrees F. Place cheesecakes into the preheated water baths in the oven for 1.5 hours. Open the oven door for a little bit (10 seconds). Turn the oven off, close door and leave cheesecake to set for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator to completely cool. ( I admit that Mike and I ate one right away. It was 11pm, and we wanted cheesecake! )

When ready to serve, take the remaining graham cracker mixture and press into the sides of the cake.

and now it is all in my belly. Mwahahah… okay, mike had some too.. that thief…

The characters in parantheses signify verb, adjective and noun forms, respectively. Cantonese pronunciation is bracketed; mandarin pronunciation is not.  So Mike is a vibrating honor filled person? Or maybe he restores honor and glory? Hmmm.. what a bright and shiny name.

Oh, and what do I use it for? Mainly to crush pistachios to mix in with my vanilla ice cream. I guess I crush spices occasionally too. But mainly pistachios. It’s the best way to eat vanilla ice cream. Heavy on the pistachios please. Pre-m&p days, I would smash my pistachios on a cutting board with a hammer. Not so good for the neighbors, and with occasionally explosive results.

courtesy of Sigma Aldrich