Post #402. Who knew?
Ok, so I confess. I went looking for trouble this morning. I started off very well – with a broccoli omelet. But, I wasn’t happy. I was craving something crunchy, flaky and sweet. I went searching. Was I close to a great pastry shop? No. Was I in the City? No. I opened the refrigerator door. Puff Pastry was frozen – no, again. What could I do? I began to feel an inkling of desperation. Then I remembered…….
Of course because of the dastardly weather this morning, I returned to bed with my coffee and two new cookbooks to read. I was going to hibernate for awhile.
But, as I began to thumb through the pages, I had one eye on the tv. On the Katie Brown Workshop on Create TV, she was making Apple Popovers. And so, after I went through my little search into the refrigerator and looked around the kitchen, I decided to continue on my little string of pear recipes. Those 4 D’Anjou pears that were nestled in my fruit bowl were perfect.
PEAR, GINGER AND RUM POPOVERS – adapted from Katie Brown
4 ripe but not mushy pears, peeled and chopped into eighths
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tblsp unsalted butter
1 tsp dark rum
squirt of fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp fresh ginger root, grated
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp vanilla
scant tsp dark rum
2 eggs 1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 425F. Spray a muffin tin with canola oil and set aside.
In a sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the pears, brown sugar, rum, nutmeg, lemon juice, and ginger. Sauté for 2-3 minutes depending on how firm your pears are – you want them coated and warmed through, cooked a little but not mushy. Cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs. Add the sugar, salt, vanilla, rum and whisk until smooth and there are no lumps. Pour into a large measuring cup.
When the pears are cool, scoop 3-4 pieces into each prepared muffin cup. Bake for 5 minutes to heat the tin. Remove from oven and pour batter over each, up to 3/4 full. Place in hot oven and bake for 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 375F and bake for additional 20 minutes or until well browned, puffed and crusty. Remover from oven and remove from the pan immediately. Drizzle with rum syrup and serve immediately. If you are making these for dessert (lovely) add a scoop of your best homemade if possible, vanilla ice cream.
Rum Syrup – 1 cup sugar 1 tbsp dark rum splash of water. Place sugar and rum in a small saucepan over medium high heat. Add a splash of water to help dissolve sugar. Heat to boiling and boil until reduced and caramel-colored. Pour over popovers as soon as they come out of the oven.
Now, where was I? Oh yes, back to bed with that pile of cookbooks, a popover and a cup of steaming tea. 🙂