Seventy-third Post ~ Turkey with Pear and Cherry Dressing with Spiced Acorn Squash

Autumn is my favorite time of year for so many reasons: the colors, the crispness of winter on the air, the scent and sound of leaves crunching under my feet - and the foot. Let us not forget the food. This is the time to celebrate savory, spicey, home-inspired comfort foods - and I decided to make turkey tonight - turkey tenderloins, that is!

Here's what you'll need for this simple turkey preparation:

~ Turkey tenderloins

~ Chopped piece of shallot

~ Garlic

~ Sage

~ EVOO

~ Bosc pear

~ Dried Cherries

~ White wine

For the acorn squash (so easy and yummy - makes a good lunch when you want to say you were good and "only had vegetables" for lunch!)

~ Halved acorn squash

~ Brown sugar

~ Butter

~ Spices of choice - I always choose cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves

Here's how I make the squash, which can sit and wait after cooking until the meal is ready:

Pierce the squash and microwave it for about 30 seconds on high. This makes it far easier to cut. Slice in half. If you're only cooking one half, saran the other and save it for a lunch later on in the week. Scoop out the seeds and fill the middle with a tab of butter, ample sugar and lots of spices. Place it in a small bowl and put a tiny amount of water in. Saran and microwave for 3-5 minutes. Let it sit until the rest of the meal is done.

Slice the pear and mince some onion. In a stick-free pan, begin sauteeing the onion, garlic, white wine and sage. Add the turkey tenderloins, a little pepper and some salt. Just when they've browned nicely, add the pear slices and cherries. You may need to add a bit more wine. Cover the pan and let it cook until the juices from the turkey run clear. Serve with the squash.

I enjoyed tonight's meal with a Chardonnay by Tall Poppy. It was fruity and oaky, reminiscent of late-harvest pears and apples. It was the perfect compliment to this meal!

Yours in the love of good food and wine (and autumn!)

AL

Thirty-eighth Post ~ Duck with Pear and Walnut Dressing

Tonight in class, I created an analogy using Duck à l'Orange. My students have pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm a dork (albeit, I'd like to think, a likeable dork), so that's not really the point of the story.

The point of the story is that as of 8:00 tonight, I began thinking about duck. Therefore, I peeled out of the UB parking lot and headed over to Wegmans, where I bought some duck and a pear.

This is one of those meals that looks a lot more time-intensive than it actually is. Here's what you'll need for tonight's meal:

~ Duck (preferably a breast, skin on or off. I cooked this one with the skin on, but cut it off before I ate it.)

~ Pear (I bought one smallish bosc pear, but I was really hoping for some Seckel pears, but have been unable to find them at Wegmans since I cooked with them once a few months ago)

~ Seasonal dried fruit (I used raisins and cranberries)

~ White wine (I used chardonnay)

~ Apple juice (or cider)

~ Walnuts

~ Olive oil

~ Spices (sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove)

~ Fresh thyme (or dried)

Slice up your pear. Toss it in a stick-free pan with some olive oil, chard and sugar. Add the nuts and dried fruit. Sprinkle liberally with whatever spices you fancy. Add a sprig of thyme. Keep moving it around so it doesn't scorch. As it runs low on liquid, add some apple juice so it remains sweet and fruity and doesn't become too acidic.

In a separate pan, brown the duck in a little oil, thyme and wine. Salt and pepper it.

Once your fruit and walnuts are bubbling at that dangerously hot temperature that only cooking with sugar and oil can produce, move everything around to create a spot in the center for the duck. Place it in the pan carefully with the thyme and oil from the pan you browned it in, and slap on a well-fitting lid with a steam hole.

That's it.

Seriously. Keep checking it every so often, stir it around, take the duck out to check if it's done, but really, this whole meal is a pretty laissez-faire kind of dish.

Once it's done, serve it on a plate with the fruit and walnut dressing all around it. Garnish with a fresh sprig of thyme if you wish. I would recommend scattering a bit of thyme over it once it's served, as it adds a nice fresh taste to the dish.

I served this meal with a chardonnay by Pepperwood Grove, an international wine negotiant that brings us affordable wines from a number of different countries. This chard is Californian, making it fruit-forward, but also oaky enough to balance the earthy taste of the duck and the walnuts.

Overall, this meal encompasses all of the rustic tastes of autumn that I so dearly love!

Yours in the love of food and wine,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.

Sixth Post - Spiced Pear with Cheese Flight Appetizer

Ah, girl talk... nothing beats it. So when my friend Meg called, we made plans for a full-fledged evening of chatting and food. She'd bring the beverage and dessert (wine and chocolate, of course!) and I would cook dinner. I decided to start things off with an appetizer that actually originated as a sneaky plan of my mom's to get everyone in our family to the table for dinner.

See, during family dinners, we always get carried away with the visiting part, and no matter how many times or how loudly you ask everyone to get to the table, no one will listen. My mom solved that problem by wafting the smell of this appetizer through the air, and magically, everyone turned up at the table to eat it. She could then get the last-minute dinner things prepped while everyone was in one place - eating the appetizer.

Here's what you'll need. Note the flexibility of ingredients - that's what makes this such a nice easy app!

~1 can half pears in heavy syrup

~Brown sugar

~Extract - vanilla, almond, even cherry brandy works

~Dried fruit - cherries, cranberries, raisens, apricots, anything goes

~Small bowls/dessert dishes

~The capacity to not scald yourself with extremely hot liquid

Place a pear half in a dessert dish with a bit of its own syrup. Add brown sugar (a good tablespoon or so) and then add a bit of extract. Place a piece of dried fruit on top. You can even garnish that with a clove or a sweetened nut. Put the dishes on a plate (because they will boil over) and put them in the microwave for about 3 minutes. When they're about the temperature of molten rock, take them out of the microwave. This produces the effect of an intoxicating aroma that will be sure to get everyone to the table. Don't worry - if your dinner guests move as slowly as my family, the pears will cool enough to an edible temperature in no time.

~~~PAUSE~~~

No matter how simple a recipe, there is ALWAYS something that can throw a speedbump into the leisurely road that was your dinner. The trick to this, I've learned from observation and experience, is not to panic, but rather, to take stock of what you have on hand and use it. Creativity as a last-minute fix can lead to some pretty fun inventions.

~~~UNPAUSE~~~

So I prepared to make this appetizer for Meg tonight, and upon surveying my pear supply, forgot that I had eaten most of the can the other day on my way out the door... leaving the two smallest halves in the can. Well this just won't do. I supplimented the lack of pear by adding two dried apricots and ample almond extract, but still wasn't satisfied. This was supposed to be a dessert dish brimming with fruitful goodness. It just looked scant.

Thankfully, WEGMANS came to the rescue! I had one of their cheese flights for one in my fridge (don't I always?) so I cut a slice of bread (Wegman's hearty potato, naturally) into six small squares (3 for each of us) and toasted them in my toaster oven. I then placed a slice of each kind of cheese on them. The effect was an appetizer consisting of the spiced pear and apricots and three squares of toast with cheese. The cheese in this week's flight was strawberry cheddar, St. Andre (a sheep's milk cheese with a taste that's a cross between brie and chevre) and roqueforte.

So what you'll need for the second part:

~1 slice of bread for every 2 guests

~An assortment of cheeses

Meg brought over the most lovely pinot noir called Gala Rouge by Bon Vivant vineyards. It was the perfect wine for our evening! It paired wonderfully with the pear appetizer and cheese, and then it continued to pair well with the parmesan chicken, tortellini in herbed butter and green beans... and it even went delightfully with the Cadbury dark and milk chocolate bars she brought with the wine!

Dinner with a good friend, wine and chocolate... the triumvirate of companionship!

Yours in the love of good food and wine,

AL

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The blogger is not an experienced chef. She takes no responsibility for the quality of the meals prepared while following her advice. Use your own judgment regarding cooking times and proper food handling.