Salvador Dali, 1904-1989
The Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used as an Apartment, 1935.
Oil on canvas; dimensions unavailable
Spanish Surrealist PainterThis dessert was a wonderful surprise during some experimentation with pears, which are so abundant this time of year. I didn’t want to go with the traditional favorites this Thanksgiving. This year, I thought more about flavors rather than seasons: this year’s inspiration was more of an intuitive response to that which has been bombarding my senses.
Every time I’ve been to the store this past week, more and more varieties of pears are arriving by the day. I stuck with the organic selection, which narrowed the playing field considerably, so next I based my decision on the fullness of the aroma. The organic concorde won by a landslide, so I carefully searched and placed 8 big beauties into a plastic bag and then into my cart, being certain to gently pinch the neck of each to test for relative ripeness. They all gave ever so slightly—if the skin sinks easily beneath the weight of your thumb, they are perfect for eating right away but useless for poaching; they would fall apart far too easily, and I had poaching on the brain, with maple syrup? Yes, a maple brown sugar simple syrup for the pears and good butter for the pear pound cake. A pear pound cake with pears poached in a maple brown sugar syrup…
Well. the pound cake idea didn’t quite turn out as I’d hoped. The sliced pears sank to the bottom and the center of the cake refused to set, even after being in the oven for over an hour and a half. But not all was lost. The flavor was simply amazing. The butteriness of the cake, coupled with the sweet woody flavor of the maple syrup was flat out delicious. But the baking of the cake was just too long; I wasn’t impressed to say the least.
I sat on the recipe for another day, ruminating over each and every step I was going to take, each adjustment I was going to employ to make this combination of flavors work.
I wrote out the recipe in long hand, just as I always do, and then I gathered up my pears and set to peeling. I was far too excited to wait until morning to see if this one turns out as I’d hoped. So I dashed in, headlong, and this is what I found on the other side...
Loaded with fruit, this dessert, according to Tim, “has the consistency of a soft bread pudding, and just enough spice to feel seasonal.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I asked.
“Oh no, it’s a good thing. No, I like this one a lot.”
Done and done!
PEAR CARDAMOM MOCK BREAD PUDDING
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup sorghum flour
¾ cup corn starch
½ cup tapioca flour
1 teaspoon guar gum
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
14 tablespoons unsalted, cultured butter, diced
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
2 cups dark raisins
1 cup yellow raisins
¼ cup sanding sugar
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
crème fraiche for serving
8 small rosemary springs for serving
MAPLE BROWN SUGAR SIMPLE SYRUP
4 large pears, like concorde, peeled and cored
2 cups water
1 cup high quality maple syrup
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown (muscovado) sugar, packed
Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a jellyroll sheet with buttered parchment paper and set aside.
In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine the water, maple syrup, granulated and light brown sugar, and heat until all the sugar has melted and the syrup has reached a steady low boil. Add the pears and poach just until soft; you should be able to easily pierce each piece with a fork. Remove pears and allow to cool on a wire rack. Dice pears into a ¼” pieces and set aside.
In a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment, combine all the dry ingredients and mix on the lowest setting for 30 seconds.
Next, with the mixer still going at that slow, steady whir, drop in your diced butter and continue to mix until the butter has emulsified to the point that your bowl looks like it’s filled with pale thick, damp sand. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until smooth. Pour in the buttermilk and the vanilla and mix on high for a minute. Your batter should be fluffy, light and excited.
Fold in the pears and then pour your batter onto your prepared jellyroll pan.
Mix the dark and light raisins together and then sprinkle over the batter, being careful to evenly distribute the fruit. Using a rubber spatula, softly press the raisins into the batter and then smooth the top.
Mix the sanding sugar with the ground cardamom until there are no visible clumps. Sprinkle the cardamom sugar over the top of your batter until sparkly and new looking.
Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes and the top of the cake is sienna in color.
Allow to cool completely in the pan before serving. Cover with foil and refrigerate until ready to use.
Using a 2” cookie cutter, cut out 16 rounds. Set aside. Stir crème fraiche until smooth.
Take one round, coat the top with the crème fraiche and then top with another round.
Repeat until you have your 8 servings ready. Now cut out 8 1” rounds. Cover the bottom of the 1” rounds with crème fraiche and then top each dessert. Garnish with the rosemary sprigs and serve immediately.
Serves 8
Dominique Delfino, 2005
Foliage from Nans Sous Ste. Anne, France
French Nature Photographer
