"There's only one hard and fast rule in running: sometimes you have to run one hard and fast."








Sunday, January 31, 2010

Plan 9 From Steve's Evil Kitchen

If you wondered, the vinegar experiment failed. I thought it was temperature related, but I tried again and failed again. Here, however, is a triumph.

First, let me say that stuffed baked fruit is an abomination. I don't care how many people say I just haven't had it done by someone who knows how to cook - it's always awful. So, I did a baked fruit thing and left out the baking.

I found a ripe comice pear in a market and couldn't believe my luck; no waiting a week while it ripened! Then I got inspired. Five ingredients, 10 minutes, pure heaven.

Toasted 6 walnut halves (used a cast iron skillet; couldn't wait to preheat the oven). Peeled the pear, split it in two longitudinally, cored it with a small ice cream scoop. Squeezed a lemon over the pears to keep the color. Put a large dot of honey (tupelo) in each of the cavities of the halves and microwaved them while the walnuts toasted.

Filled the pear halves with roquefort cheese, put the walnuts in the cheese like masts in a boat and drizzled more honey over the top. Voila! Hot pear, cold cheese (I couldn't wait for the cheese to warm to room temperature as one should and it improved the taste). Gritty pear, smooth cheese, crunchy nuts, sticky honey. Freshness of fruit, tanginess of cheese, earthiness of nuts, sweetness of honey.

A small cognac to wash it down. Perfection!

[I did actually take a photograph. It just won't load...]

3 comments:

Jen said...

Sounds divine! I want to see the pic if you can ever get it to load.

Jean said...

Steve, that sounds absolutely delicious, and what interesting contrast in textures. Good stuff coming out of Steve's Evil Kitchen, I must say!

SteveQ said...

I think I lost the photo for good and that's a shame, as it included a bucket of paint thinner, a rat trap and the remains of a ca. 1980 bodybuilding magazine.

Couldn't do a standard food pic.