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

After 4 years of thinking about it, I finally had a chance to visit Bakesale Betty’s (in Rockridge- apparently they have opened a location in Downtown Oakland as well!) during open hours to try their infamous fried chicken sandwich. The lines were long, but they moved fairly quickly. In addition to the sandwich, I purchased a strawberry shortcake, pecan shortbread, a chocolate chip cookie and a ginger cookie. This was the entirety of what they had on hand, other than take-home unbaked chicken pot pie. Though they have many more bakery items listed online, only a few of them make the daily production cut. The fried chicken sandwich was good, but entirely too hyped up. The sandwich would have been tastier if the chicken had been freshly fried. As it was, it was only lukewarm… tasty enough, and a generous portion size, but not delicious enough that I crave it. The desserts, however, were pretty stellar and trek-worthy. In particular, the ginger cookie was absolutely delicious- the right amount of spice and chewiness, with crystallized ginger chunks interspersed through the cookie. Good enough that I got back in line halfway through my ginger cookie to buy 3 more for later because I didn’t want to save the other half of the cookie for mike ;P.

I stopped by the farmer’s market to pick up some bread and cheese for a hike about a month ago. I grabbed my standby rustic olive loaf from Phoenix Pastificio, and then swung by the Cowgirl Creamery (CC) cheese stand. CC is well known for their creamy, soft cheeses, but I was intrigued to find that they had started to experiment with hard cheeses as well. I am a hard cheese girl at heart. In particular, aged gouda. You may call me the Aged Gouda Girl. I picked up a wedge (from Batch #27). Well, I will tell you the end result here: that cheese has a certain kind of funkiness and textural grittiness that I do not like. It was like eating somewhat milky sand. And I have smelled funky cheeses. Usually that funkiness makes me think of good things to come. This was not that kind of funky. I know they are still working out the kinks, so I hope their subsequent batches improve. I guess my first clue should have been when the lady at the CC stand tried a sliver from batch #27:

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.