I have been missing FAF so much that I pulled out 2 recipes for a dinner party we hosted this weekend: red-wine spaghetti with broccoli (November ’05) and the fusilli with spinach, ricotta & golden raisins (August ’06). They were both so delish and the comments were a great help!
Anyway, it is completely my fault that FAF has been on a hiatus, but hopefully this will kick it back up again with this pear crisp recipe from Cooking Light:
INGREDIENTS:
6 cups Anjou or Bartlett pears, cored and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices (about 3 pounds)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup regular oats
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine pears and lemon juice in a 2-quart baking dish; toss gently to coat. Combine granulated sugar, cornstarch, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; stir with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pear mixture; toss well to coat.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt in a food processor; pulse 2 times or until combined. Add chilled butter; pulse 6 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add oats and walnuts; pulse 2 times. Sprinkle flour mixture evenly over pear mixture.
Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until pears are tender and topping is golden brown. Cool 20 minutes on a wire rack; serve warm or at room temperature.
Yield
8 servings
Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2002
selected by Annie
11 comments:
I have been missing FaF as well, and this recipe was perfect to get me back into the swing of things. I made it for a super bowl party a few weeks ago. Figured it was a bit healthier than all the other "regular" super bowl food.
Instead of just using pears (because I have to admit I'm not a huge pear fan), I used pears, apples & dried cranberries. I also have to admit that this wasn't an original idea, I saw The Barefoot Contessa mix these three a few weeks ago. Anyway, aside from being a little too juicy, it was yummy! Who doesn't love crisp? I used flour instead of cornstarch - think that made a difference? I also used more of a casserole pan - maybe something more shallow and it wouldn't have been so wet? We had some leftover and re-heated it the next day. I liked it better one day later.
I think I might have made this from CL a while ago, but I wanted to respond to Karen's comment because I was just reading on the cornstarch container today that 1 tbsp. of cornstarch equals 2 tbsp. of flour - so that is probably why yours was so juicy.
From Amy G:
Yeah to FAF being back! Like Karen, I also made this to bring to a super bowl party. It was a big hit and I got some pumpkin ice cream to go with it, which was yummy too.
I don't really know where the "light" part comes in, with all that butter and sugar, but I enjoyed tricking myself into thinking it was healthy!
I thought this was delicious! Like Karen, I'm not normally someone who seeks out pears, but the combo with the walnuts was really satisfying. (You see pears with frangipane so much that I considered using almonds, but I didn't have any. Did anyone try that?)
I made the recipe on Sunday night and thought it was incredibly easy. Because the wedges seemed kind of delicate, I wondered if the pears would hold their shape in the oven, but they did just fine. The topping tasted a little salty to me, but I was getting over a cold, so my taste buds could have been skewed.
Mine was also a little syrupy, but I thought that was kind of nice. We sort of dragged the pears through the juice while eating, and we definitely wanted to swirl the rest of it over some vanilla ice cream. (The rest of you seem to bring these dishes to parties -- I just stuff myself on the couch with my husband!)
Speaking of gluttony, I have to disagree with Amy G. about the butter: 3T is not a ton for a recipe that's supposed to feed 8. (It was a lot of sugar, though.) I used to be in a Cooking Light supper club in Chicago that we used to call Eating Heavy...if you make everything from the magazine, it's not so light after all!
I totally agree with Karen that this improved overnight and was great yesterday. (Confession: for breakfast.)
My only negative was that it didn't seem worth dirtying the Cuisinart for a basic streusel. Next time, I'll let the butter soften, use pre-chopped nuts, and mush it up by hand.
Fabulous February choice -- glad we're back in action!
Hi everyone! Glad to be back in the kitchen with y'all!
My comments shouldn't really count b/c I wasn't feeling great the day I made this recipe (also for a SuperBowl party) and I made a total mess of what should have been an easy recipe.
A couple of relevant thoughts/questions:
1) I used apples instead of pears (the hubby hates pears) and I didn't peel them b/c this recipe didn't call for peeling the pears - it was gross to eat apples with baked skins falling off! Did this happen with the folks who made the recipe with pears or did you knowingly (even though the recipe didn't call for it) peel them ahead of time?
2) Also, I ended up making another batch of the "crisp" part b/c I didn't think the recipe called for enough. I was glad I did this b/c the sugar/butter/flour mix is always the hit of the party and I didn't want to shortchange folks on the yummiest part.
3) Karen, your idea with cranberries sounds marvelous!
Hope you are all well and have had a good start to 2008!
I am so happy we are back and cooking too... BUT am sorry I didn't make this one. I am in for the next recipe. I promise.
I am laughing reading these comments....
First, I thought that this was super light, because all of the other crisp and crumble recipes I have ever made called for 1 or 2 sticks of butter. I actually thought about putting more butter into this one.
I also love the Anne didn't peel the apples and pears - I am still laughing at that. I didn't even read the recipe and automatically peeled everything, pears and apples too. I can imagine that baked apple peels with crisp is not yummy at all. (Anne - I am not laughing at you!!)
Happy Cooking in 2008!
From Annie L-H: Hi everyone! I'm so happy we're back. I was really excited when I saw this recipe. I have made some pretty fattening apple crisps in my day (the more butter and flour, the better), but I have been wanting to scale that down. I came across this recipe and was delighted!
I enjoyed it a lot. I wouldn't say I LOVED it, but I enjoyed it. I eliminated the walnuts only because I forgot them at the store, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. My guests also seemed to enjoy it, but it didn't go completely.
I did not peel the pears since the recipe didn't call for it. But Anne ES: I make baked apples all the time and leave the skins on and they come out delish! I don't think we've had the skin-falling-off sensation...
Anyway, it smelled yummy, looked pretty and I would definitely try it again.
I agree with Amy G that the use of butter and flour, etc. seems to go against any such "light cooking" but as MF stated, it wasn't a huge amount for the number of servings. I tend to enjoy eating recipes more with more butter and flour, also, but that's just me... :)
Poor Anne ES! Apple skin sounds like it would be pretty gross in this recipe, but it is, as Annie said, the best part of a whole baked apple.
I was thinking that to save the effort of peeling, I might try this again with frozen peaches, which are already peeled and cut into the perfect shape. Alternatively, the pears would also be great with some ginger...maybe crystallized in the fruit part and powdered in the streusel?
From Annie L-H: Oooh, Mir, I like those suggestions. Maybe I'll try the peaches this weekend and will let you all know how it comes out..
So glad I could provide some good laughs for everyone. I am really not so good in the kitchen so I always follow recipes exactly as they say.
Hearing everyone's comments about peeling - is the consensus to always peel before putting into the crisp - and your ideas about cranberries and peaches is so helpful! And I thought I was being creative making this into an apple crisp. Hee, hee!
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