Pear & Goat Cheese Papillote

Tags

dessert, goat cheese, honey, pears

I’ve wandered back to this recipe on frenchwomendontgetfat.com over and over again in the past few weeks, but never had the pears and goat cheese on hand at the same time.  So last night, I decided it was time to finally try it.  On my way to my boyfriend’s, I swung by the Harvest Co-op Market in Central Square.  I picked up Bosc pears, fresh goat cheese, and a small wedge of blue cheese.  This recipe is incredibly simple and delicious.

The original recipe called for making a yogurt sauce, but I was feeling lazy.  It is summer, after all.  So instead, I drizzled the dish with honey after removing it from the oven.  No yogurt sauce needed!  Ta-da!  I also went a little light on the cheese.  I used the amount called for of goat cheese, but only about half of the called-for blue cheese.  The cheeses do melt and mix wonderfully, it just seemed like a lot of cheese as I was piling it on.  Feel free to adjust to your taste!  The parchment paper papillotes are a little tricky, but that could’ve been because I was at the end of the roll and my pieces were particularly curly.  Still, some good squishing and folding will do the trick.

Lesson of the day: en papillote means “in parchment” in French.  It is a method of cooking in which the food is put into pouch-like folded parchment paper and then baked.  This steams the food.  It’s not only for fruit – try it with salmon, veggies, other meats, etc.

Pear and Goat Cheese Papillote

4 pears

juice of 1 lemon (I used a lemon juice squeegie and guess-timated how much lemon juice to use)

4 oz fresh goat cheese

2 oz fresh blue cheese

2 T olive oil

1 T fresh chervil or tarragon (use 1/3-1/2 T if using dried herbs)

Salt and pepper (optional)

Note:  This recipe yields 4 smaller servings or 2 platefuls.  Divvy up the pears amongst your choice of 2, 3, or 4 servings.  The recipe directions are written for 4 servings.

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2.  Peel the pears (optional – I didn’t).  Slice into quarters and then cut the quarters into thirds (large chunks).  Add lemon juice. (I dumped all the pears into a bowl and smothered them in lemon juice until I had the parchment paper ready.)

3.  Cut 8 pieces of parchment paper (use aluminum foil if you don’t have the paper) into squares large enough to hold 1 pear’s worth of pieces and 1 oz. of cheese, with 2 inches extra on each side.  Brush 4 squares with olive oil (these will be the bottoms of the papillotes).

4.  Arrange the pear slices equally among the 4 oiled squares.  Slice the goat cheese and arrange on top of each papillote.  Crumble blue cheese on top, sprinkle with chervil (I used dried tarragon leaves), and add salt and pepper if desired.

5.  Place the other squares of parchment paper on top of each serving and fold up all edges to make the papillotes. (Double folding each side and pinching in the corners works well.)

6.  Place papillotes on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes.  (If your cheese was fresh out of the fridge, you’ll need closer to 15 for the melted consistency.)

7.  When done baking, remove from oven; open each packet and carefully slide onto a plate.  Drizzle with honey and serve warm.

Enjoy your summery dessert!

I’d also like to give a shout-out to all Dads, particularly mine! Happy Father’s Day!!! 🙂

Roasted Carrots, Pearl Onions, and Mushrooms

Tags

carrots, mushrooms, pearl onions

Here is the promised recipe for the side dish I made with the stuffed acorn squash!  I’m on a Bolt Bus on my way to NY at the moment.  I’ll get to see my mom, brother, puppies, and friends this weekend!  I will, of course, be doing some cooking with my mom. 🙂

This dish is done in less than an hour (half an hour in the oven, then some stove top time), so it’s great to prep and then pop in the oven while you work on the main dish.  It all comes together quickly once the roasting is finished.  I love the pearl onions because they’re so sweet.

Roasted Carrots, Pearl Onions, and Mushrooms

adapted from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook

1 1/2 lbs pearl onions

2 lbs baby carrots

2 T olive oil

1 tsp thyme

1 1/2 – 2 tsp tarragon

1 1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp ground pepper

8 oz mixed mushrooms (your choice, I used shiitake and baby bellas)

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 T balsamic vinegar

1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add onions and blanch for 2 minutes.  Drain and let cool.  Trim stem and root ends, then pop onions out of their skins.

2.  Preheat oven to 450° F.  Place carrots and onions in a large bowl.  Add 2 T olive oil and toss to evenly coat.  Arrange onions and carrots on a large baking sheet with sides.  Sprinkle evenly with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and thyme.  Roast for 25 minutes, tossing occasionally.

3.  Quarter or slice mushrooms.  Sauté in 2 T olive oil until tender, about 4 minutes.  Add roasted onions, carrots, broth, and vinegar.  Cook, stirring often, until nearly all liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.  Add tarragon, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper; toss.

Serve immediately.  Enjoy!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Tags

bacon, chard, mushrooms, squash

Despite the fact that the heat and humidity was nearly unbearable on Saturday night, I opted to use a lot of oven time to make these stuffed acorn squash.  They came out absolutely delicious.  I recommend splitting one and only eating half, unless you’re very hungry.  I almost finished a whole one, and I thought I was famished.  The side of roasted carrots, pearl onions, and mushrooms I’ll detail in another post soon.

The original recipe called for bacon, but I substituted turkey bacon for a healthier option.  It was incredible.  Also, this recipe calls for Swiss chard, and I must admit I had to do a Google search to find out what exactly chard was.  It’s a leafy green vegetable related to beets, although the leaves are eaten and not the roots.  It’s like spinach in taste and texture, and bitter if eaten raw (though the bitterness disappears when cooked).  My last note is that this recipe is rather time-intensive.  Overall, since I made the side of roasted vegetables as well, I was in the kitchen for a little over an hour and a half.  I want to stress how incredibly worth it it was, though!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

adapted from The Oprah Magazine Cookbook

3 medium acorn squash
5 T olive oil
salt and pepper
12 slices turkey bacon
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 1/2 lbs. Swiss chard, washed, dried, stems and
center veins removed, and ripped into salad-size strips
10 oz. assorted mushrooms (any kind you’d like)
1 tsp finely chopped thyme (or use 1/2 tsp dried)
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1 T butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.  Soak about 20 toothpicks in warm water.

2.  Using a sharp knife, slice off a little of the squash bottoms so they sit flat.  Turn squash on their sides and cut off tops (about 1-2 inches), exposing the seeds.  Slice away all or most of the green peel (it is edible but you want a lot of the inner vegetable exposed so the bacon juices cook in).  Use a spoon to scoop out and discard the seeds and membrane.  Brush squash with 1 T olive oil and season inside and out with salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Working one squash at a time, wrap 4 slices of bacon around each so they resemble the spokes of a wheel, tucking one end of each strip under the squash and securing the other end inside the rim with a toothpick.  Place a rack in the bottom of a shallow baking dish.  Arrange squash, hollow side down, on rack.  Bake on center oven rack 30 minutes (baste every 10 minutes with pan juices if using regular bacon, which will release much more juice than turkey bacon) – until bacon is brown and squash is nearly tender when pierced with a knife.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

4.  Warm 2 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and garlic.  Cook, stirring frequently, 5 to 7 minutes, until onion is soft. Increase heat to medium-high and start adding chard in big batches.  As greens wilt, transfer to a plate and add more chard to pan until it is all wilted.  Return all chard to pan and cook until tender yet still quite green.  Transfer all to a plate to cool.

5.  Add 2 T olive oil to the same pan on medium-high heat and sauté the mushrooms.  Stir until mushrooms are tender and no liquid is left in the pan.  Transfer to a plate to cool.  When chard is cool enough to handle, squeeze out excess juice.  Toss chard and onion mix with mushrooms.  Add thyme and nutmeg.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6.  Preheat oven to 500 F.  Mix bread crumbs with melted butter, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove toothpicks from squash and turn them right side up in the baking dish.  Stuff squash with the chard mixture so it’s packed and creates a small mound.  (You will have plenty of filling to really pack in the chard mixture.  When eating, this will be a plus, since there is a lot of squash and you want plenty of stuffing to eat with it.)  Top each squash with a layer of bread crumbs.  Bake 10 minutes on center oven rack, until crust is golden brown and squash are heated through.  Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes.  Use a sharp knife to cut each squash in half (between bacon slices).

me securing the bacon with toothpicks

stuffed squash just before the final round in the oven

delicious final meal!

Poem

Tags

poem

This is a poem I wrote well over a year ago.  I just felt like sharing.  Well, honestly, I’ve been going through all of my documents on my computer and “cleaning up” from past semesters and whatnot, and I found this.  So I thought, why not share?  Here goes:

Terror

knowledge doesn’t make the unknown less frightening

Fortitude

one candle is still fire

Helplessness

I am bound

Desire

it is always there, inescapable

Trust

time was treasured

Pain

intensity brings awareness, feeling

Devotion

hearts never obey

only I do