Spiced Pear and Cranberry Crostata

A crostata is one of my favourite desserts. It's basically like a pie, but it's free form so you don't even need a pie pan to make one. They are so easy to make (especially when you cheat and use refrigerated pie crust like I do) and I love the crust to filling ratio. With a pie, I feel like there is too much filling for that little amount of pie. A crostata is thinner so there is a perfect amount of crust for the filling. I had bought some cranberries for a loaf of orange cranberry pound cake and didn't want the rest of the cranberries to go to waste. So I bought a couple of pears and threw this together. It was so easy and so delicious. The pears were just as sweet as the cranberries were tart and the spices warmed everything up and made the crostata sing!

Ingredients:
2 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 c cranberries
1/4 c sugar (taste a piece of your pear and if it is really sweet, just use about 2 T of sugar)
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 refrigerated pie crust
1-2 T milk and sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl combine all ingredients from the pears to the cloves, including the cloves. Mix together well and set aside while you roll out the crust. On a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, gently unroll the pie crust and put in the center of the pan. Carefully spoon the pear mixture into the middle of the pie crust, try to drain most of the liquid off before putting on the crust. Spread the mixture out leaving about 1-2 inches of pie crust around the outside. Or if you are like me and really love pie crust, leave about 4 inches of pie crust around the outside. Then gently fold the crust over the fruit. To help the crust brown and look pretty you can lightly brush the folded crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 for an hour or until the crust is golden brown.

Bacon Brussles Sprouts

I never had Brussels Sprouts growing up because my mom hated them. As Greg and I have tried expanding our horizons with vegetables, we tried roasted Brussels Sprouts. And we loved them! I decided to try sauteing them with some bacon and onions because as much as we loved the roasted version, some piece did get quite cooked and I thought sauteing might help that. Cook up some chopped bacon and then cook the cut sprouts and chopped onions in the bacon fat, add some chicken stock and cook until it's gone and you're all set! Maybe not the healthiest veggie since you're cooking it in bacon fat, but man it is good!

Ingredients:
1 pound cleaned and quartered Brussels sprouts
1/2 a small red onion, chopped
3-4 bacon pieces, chopped
1/2 c chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste


In a large, cold skillet, add the chopped bacon. Bring heat to medium and let bacon cook until done. Using a slotted spoon remove the bacon from the pan, leaving most of the grease behind. Drain any excess grease so you only have about 2 T in the pan. Add the Brussels sprouts and chopped onion. Let cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and sprouts are starting to brown. Add the chicken stock and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let cook until the stock is reduced to about a tablespoon or gone completely if you don't want any liquid. Add the chopped bacon back to the pan, remove from heat, and stir to combine.

Mulled Juice Poached Pears

I have always loved the idea of mulled wine. I don't drink alcohol, but the idea of a warm drink with all those yummy holiday spices thrown in... Yum! I was watching Food Network and these mulled wine poached pears were made and they looked so good! I used it as a base recipe for some poached pears I made. These were so good! Sweet and warm with spices, almost a little spice, the crunchy almonds on top added the perfect textural difference and the creamy and bright sauce was such a good contrast.

Ingredients:
4 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and quartered
4 c cranberry juice cocktail
1/4 c honey
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp vanilla
4 oz Neufchatel, softened
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 c honey
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 c chopped, toasted almonds

In a pot, add the cranberry juice, 1/4 c honey, cloves, cinnamon, pepper flakes and vanilla. Bring to a boil and then add the quartered pears. Turn the heat down to medium. I used a small bowl to put on top of the pears in the pot so the weight of the bowl kept the pears submerged in the liquid. Cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Mine were not very ripe so it ended up taking about 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and put the pot into the fridge. The pears should still be submerged in the poaching liquid for about an hour in the fridge. While the pears are in the fridge, make the sauce. In a bowl, put the softened Neufchatel, zest, juice and other 1/4 c of honey. Mix together with a hand mixer until well combined. The sauce can go under, on top of or next to the pears. Sprinkle the toasted almonds on top and enjoy!