Pears. Lots and lots of pears.

Yesterday I helped create a wonderful meal centered around pears. My dear friend got sucked into the bounty of Cost-Co and walked out with a flat of 12 ripe pears. At noon I hopped on my bike and rode over to her place carting with me: goat cheese, strawberries basil from my basil plant. None of this we actually needed.

Working double team method, we used a little over half of them creating 3 dishes and invited some friends over to help us eat it. There were going to be 4, we attempted bread, but that never made it out of the rising stage. In fact we had at least one issue with each recipe.

First on the list was Curried Squash-and-Pear Bisque Soup (amazing). Recipe from myrecipes.com and published in Cooking Light October 2000 edition.
* 1 butternut squash (about 2 3/4 pounds)
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 2 cups chopped peeled Bartlett pear (about 1 pound)
* 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onion
* 2 1/3 cups water
* 1 cup pear nectar
* 2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans vegetable broth
* 2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/2 cup half-and-half
* 1 small Bartlett pear, cored and thinly sliced

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.

1. Cut squash in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membrane. Place squash halves, cut sides down, on a baking sheet; bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until tender. Cool. Peel squash; mash pulp. Set aside 3 1/2 cups pulp, reserving remaining squash for another use.

2. Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chopped pear and onion; sauté 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Add squash pulp, water, and next 5 ingredients (water through pepper). Bring to a boil; partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 40 minutes. Place one-third of squash mixture in a blender; process until smooth. Pour puréed mixture into a large bowl; repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture. Return squash mixture to pan; stir in half-and-half. Cook over low heat 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Ladle soup into bowls, and garnish with pear slices.

Only problem with this was actually trying to find the butternut squash. Kroger had a grand total of 1, that didn't weigh much. So a pit stop to HEB was necessary. Smaller store, fewer options, lots of butternut squash, go figure.

Next on the list was baguette bread. We killed the yeast before we really got anything started. Note to future bread bakers: don't pour boiling water on your yeast, it kills it. Dead yeast, no oxygen production--no oxygen production, no rising--no rising, really dense bad bread. We wound up sending a husband back to the HEB to pick up a baguette for us. Better luck next time.

Dessert: Pear Upside-down Cake (really good, no comment on caloric content). Found on myrecipes.com and published in the Sunset magazine (according to Mikel 'Southern Living' for California) September 2007.
* 3/4 cup unsalted butter, plus more for pan
* 2 Bosc pears, cored, peeled, and cut into 1/4-in.-thick slices
* 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
* 1 cup chopped pecans, divided
* 1/3 cup bourbon
* 1 teaspoon salt, divided
* 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
* 3 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 cups flour
* 3/4 cup plain whole or low-fat yogurt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Generously butter a 9-in. cake pan and arrange pear slices in a pattern on the bottom of pan. Set aside.

2. Bring 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup water to a boil in a 10-in. frying pan (not nonstick) over medium-high heat. Lower heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook, undisturbed, until mixture starts to brown (swirl pan to help mixture brown evenly). When mixture turns a medium amber color, add 1/2 cup pecans and cook until fragrant but not burning, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and slowly stir in bourbon and 1/2 tsp. salt. Pour over pears in buttered pan.

3. Put 3/4 cup butter, the brown sugar, and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl. Beat until smooth and a bit fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt. Add half of the flour and beat until combined. Then beat in half of the yogurt. Repeat with remaining flour and yogurt. Stir remaining 1/2 cup pecans into batter (it will be thick).

4. Drop spoonfuls of batter over pears and sauce and spread evenly. Bake cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool on a rack 15 minutes. Run a knife between cake and pan sides and invert cake onto a plate or serving platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This one gave us the most issues, besides the complete and total failure of the bread.
--First problem was being Sunday, most liquor stores are closed and we didn't have Bourbon. We used something we guessed was Scotch. Liquor is liquor right.
--Problem two was the whole browning of the sugar, it never browned. In fact we evaporated off all the water the first go round and wound up with packed sugar crystals. Basically we dumped water back in, got the sugar into solution and let it heat some more. We never achieved the amber color we were looking for. When the water was about to evaporate for the second time we just dumped the pecans and Scotch in and hoped for the best.
--Problem three: we used a spring form pan so the sugar liquid was seeping form the base. To prevent possible fire from messing up our evening we put a baking sheet under the pan, thus blocking a lot of the heat from the base. It took a little over an hour to cook as opposed to 40 minutes.
--Problem 4: when we were flipping it to make it upside down, we dropped it on the stove top. We just scooped the pieces back up and onto the plate.

Last but not least we made a salad with cut pear pieces and feta cheese. Easy, no issues, good too.

So despite our obvious problems with following directions, we ended up with 3 good items. Fortunately we had people come help us eat it. And I had a nice swerve ride home. Unfortunately I had to leave for work at 8:30 in the next morning.