Easy Pear Tart with Marsala Glaze

This is a "mash-up" recipe that combines my sister Peggy's Easy Tart recipe and a variation on poached pear recipe from David Lebovitz. It's really pretty simple. I am not a baker, and this surprised me!

Poached Pears

3-4 cups water (enough to cover the pears)
1 cup good Marsala wine
1/2 cup honey
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 pears (Bosc, Bartlett...) - peeled, cored and quartered

In a large saucepan, heat the water, marsala and honey until warm and the honey is dissolved. Add the cinnamon stick. Slide in the pears and cover with a piece of parchment paper. (This is if you want the pears to remain under the water and not have variations in color. You can skip it.) Keep the liquid at a very low boil and simmer the pears until cooked through, 15 to 25 minutes, depending on the pears.

Remove pan from heat and let the pears cool in their liquid. Once cooled, remove pears and cinnamon with a slotted spoon to a plate. Turn the heat up to med-high to reduce the poaching liquid until it has the consistency of real maple syrup. This will take about 30-45 minutes. Keep an eye on it! It will thicken a bit more once cooled.

When ready to assemble the tart, slice the pears in thin slices to place on top of the tart.

Easy Tart Recipe

1 cup flour
½ cup sugar (divided)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
⅓ cup butter
1 egg
1 cup sour cream (light works too)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ripe Bartlett pears

Preheat oven to 400. In a food processor combine flour, ¼ cup sugar, and baking powder. Pulse a couple times. Add butter in tablespoons and process until butter is incorporated and mixture is crumbly—it won’t form a ball. Pour into a 9 or 10 inch tart pan and gently press over the bottom and up the sides at least half way. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix egg, sour cream, remaining sugar, and vanilla. Remove crust from oven and immediately pour the sour cream mixture into the hot crust. Return to the oven until the custard is set—10 to 15 minutes.  Cool and top with prepared poached pears.

Drizzle the marsala glaze over each slice to be served. Prepare to accept compliments!

Eggplant is Delicious...Really!

Here's a post from Peg who, by the way, grows practically everything she eats!

Eggplant is one of those veggies that people seem to either love or hate. Though I’m still not a huge fan, I do like it better now that I can get it either fresh from the garden or from the farmers market. Before growing it, most of the eggplant I’d eaten was bitter or too intense with ‘eggplant flavor’. If you don’t like it, you’ll know what I mean. In spite of all the salting, draining, squeezing, a too old eggplant will never taste good in my opinion. If you can get them fresh, not too large, while the skin is still glossy and the flesh is firm, you won’t need to do anything extraordinary to prepare it for your recipe. The taste should be mild and, since it absorbs oil and flavors, an enhancement to whatever condiments are used.

I’ve included a couple recipes with Italian preparations. Eggplant is often associated with Italian cooking, but it really is very versatile and found in a multitude of cuisines. These preparations are quite easy and tasty. I like them precisely because the eggplant does not overpower any of the other ingredients.

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

This is not a detailed recipe as you can be very personal with it and make as much or little as you wish. Since I’m not an avid lover of eggplant, I like this dish because it is not layered and therefore the sauce and cheeses play an equally important role.

I normally use two good sized very fresh eggplants which I slice lengthwise about ½ inch thick. I then brush both sides of the slices with olive oil and grill them on my gas grill until dark grill marks show on both sides and the slices collapse somewhat. Alternately, you can put them under the broiler until some dark spots form. Then lay them in a single layer in a baking pan and season with salt and pepper. Lay a slice of mozzarella over the top--I cover about ½ to ¾ of each eggplant slab with cheese. If you use fresh mozzarella you will get some liquid in the bottom of the baking pan when cooked, but it is quite good. Then put a spoonful or two of good thick tomato sauce over the cheese, and sprinkle parmesan all over the tops. Pop into a 350 degree oven until the cheese melts and oozes, and the dish is bubbly.

Antipasto di Melanzana (Eggplant Appetizer)

Mom and I made this recently for guests and it was a big hit. We used small, very fresh eggplants so the flavor was mild.

2 lbs fresh firm eggplants

1 lb fresh tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped fine

1 ½ tbsp minced parsley

1 ½ tbsp minced basil

1 large clove garlic, minced (or more to taste)

4 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp capers, chopped

Juice of ½ lemon (or more to taste)

¼ tsp red chili pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roast eggplant on a baking sheet until very soft (30 to 45 minutes depending on size). Cool, peel and halve the eggplants—if seedy remove seeds. Mash eggplant and mix in remaining ingredients. Serve with crisp crackers or bread. Also good as a topping for crostini.