Pear Tartine

Dear Devon,

I subtly lobbied for an apartment located near one of Barcelona’s many vibrant markets. Within its various and colorful streets, Barcelona houses forty green markets, selling an abundance of brightly colored fruits and vegetables, farm fresh eggs, sun dried fruits, cured meats and cheeses, and rich meats, fish, and poultry. My local market, situated a mere 3 blocks away, is a deep well of inspiration. Saturdays are the major market days. The crowds and rush are incredibly dense. At the moment, I don’t have the nerve to slide up to the counter. I do my shopping on the much slower paced Tuesday afternoon.

I am slowly making friends with the local vendors, who are starting to show a glint of recognition as I walk pass. For their part, they are very patient with my faltering Spanish and American indecisiveness. The practice of browsing does not exist. Spanish shoppers know exactly what they want, how much of it, and from whom. They don’t ogle and oh-and-ah the crates of pungent spring onions or wonder at yellow plums and mint green skinned citrus fruits. Like a lion, I pace in circles in front of each stall, carefully selecting my purchases and double-checking my conversions from metric to English measurements.

A friendly smile and a cheerful “Hola, buenas tardes” will take you a long way in building relations with vendors. My first week shopping, the fruit lady suspiciously eyed me in that small town way. Though I asked for four pears, she gave me eight and refused to be corrected, even after I persisted. Somewhat defeated, I slunked home with double my order, vowing not to return to her the following week. Midway through the week, I had a major change of heart. Enjoying one of those delectable pears, my resolve failed and I found myself in her debt. The pears were so good that four is not enough to get you through the week, eight was a much more suitable number. The following week, her stall was the first one I visited. I asked for eight pears and hoped I wouldn’t end up with dozen (though I wouldn’t complain too loudly).

Though relatively petite, the pears pack some major flavor. The flavor is clean and distinct, like spring water with undertones of honey and a soft citrus flavor. The pears are wonderfully aromatic, like freshly bloomed blossoms. The rounded shapes fit snugly in the palm of my hand. The soft, yellow skin wonderfully blushed with speckled rose tinted flecks on their smooth bellies. Each bite contains the perfect balance of crunchiness to juiciness. None of that mealy, coarse skinned fruit back home, but napkin worthy, juice dribbling down my chin fruit.

The pears are so tasty that improvement or embellishment is really not necessary. In the end, spreading chocolate-hazelnut butter on freshly baked baguette and topping with pears is not really cooking. It could be considered cheating. But this combination is so good that if you consider this cheating, you can call me a cheater with a capital “C.”

Pear Tartine

Baguette
Ripe pears
Nutella or some similar hazelnut chocolate spread

Using a serrated knife, divide and halve the baguette into six-inch segments. Generously spread each half with a thin layer of nutella. Thinly slice pears lengthwise. Arrange sliced pears on prepared baguette.

Good for a quick dessert or at breakfast with tea or even as a midnight snack. Good anytime.

Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Coffee Ice Cream

Dear Devon,

Before you put away your ice cream maker for the season, you have to try my amazing recipe for chocolate hazelnut coffee ice cream. I don’t have a fancy name for my flavor like Ben and Jerry’s, so if you think of a better one, let me know. Besides coffee, I don’t go for the rich brown flavors like dulce de leche and rum raisin. Strawberry, peach, and pear are more my style. But every so often I get that craving for something a bit more decadent. Coffee ice cream always hits the spot, especially when laced with chunks of chocolate and crushed, toasted hazelnuts. Each spoonful is delectable. Smooth, coffee infused ice cream balanced against bitter morsels of dark chocolate and smoky, crunchy hazelnuts. I promise you, it’s a recipe you’ll want to repeat.

We have discussed methods for making ice cream several times. While you lean towards more unusual recipes like cornstarch gelato or almond milk bases, I prefer a more traditional custard base for my ice cream. There are a multitude of ice cream recipes, all vaguely similar. In my experience, I have found the most success with a one to one ratio of cream to whole milk mixed with five egg yolks. Cream based ice creams are overwhelmingly creamy, almost like eating a chilled, viscous flavored butter. And 100% whole milk ice cream lacks the luxurious decadence inherent to any good ice cream. Egg yolks impart body and richness, more like frozen custard than just frozen milk. I can’t stress enough the importance of whole milk and cream in ice cream. On this, you and I agree. It’s ice cream after all: If you want a healthy dessert, eat a pear instead.

Barcelona’s ice cream and gelato is addictive. The flavors are intense, pungent, and refreshing. The rainbow of fruit flavors is spectacular. Subtly flavored fruits like melon, fig, and peach are intensified. Fig ice cream goes beyond suggesting the taste of fig but actually embodies a more advanced stage of a fig’s growing process, from tiny seed to fruit to ice cream! I tried an incredible plum ice cream the other day and promise to keep you updated on any other unusual flavors. Still, I’m dying for my ice cream maker. Unfortunately, our tiny excuse for a freezer can’t hold a frozen pizza, let alone an ice cream workbowl. Así es la vida! I’ll have to content myself with the multitude of impressive ice cream shops.



Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Coffee Ice Cream
3 cups half and half (or 1 1/2 cups whole milk + 1 1/2 cups cream)
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp decaf coffee beans
1/4 cup coffee (decaf)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, skins removed and chopped
1-12 oz chocolate bar with hazelnuts (for extra nutty flavor)

In a large pot, bring half and half to a light boil over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat. Pour in decaf coffee and whole coffee beans. Cover with a lid and let coffee steep for 30 minutes. Fifteen minutes would probably be enough, but for a richer coffee flavor allow the beans to steep longer. After 30 minutes, the milk-cream mixture will turn a soft brown color. Remove and discard the beans.

Beat egg yolks with sugar in a large mixing bowl until pale yellow. Gradually add hot milk mixture to the egg yolks one ladleful at a time. Add about one third of the cream mixture, whisking the entire time. The egg yolks need to be slowly introduced to the hot cream, otherwise the eggs will cook and scramble. It's really unpleasant when this happens, and it ruins the texture of the finished ice cream. Combine the tempered egg yolk mixture into the remaining hot cream. Heat slowly over a medium low flame, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until thickened. When the first bubbles begin to burst along the edges, test the custard for doneness. The custard is ready when a line drawn with your finger on the back of the spoon holds it shape. Transfer the pot into an awaiting ice bath to instantly stop the cooking. Pour the cooled mixture into a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface of the custard. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight, before continuing.


Roughly chop toasted hazelnuts and chocolate bar. Set aside. Pour ice cream base into ice cream maker. Freeze according to your manufacturer's instructions. It should take about 25 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, add the chopped hazelnuts and chocolate. Continue to freeze. Using a rubber spatula, carefully scrape down the sides of the workbowl as the machine spins. This is a bit tricky, but it prevents the ice cream from freezing to the workbowl, giving you more delicious ice cream to enjoy. Remove finished ice cream to a container. Freeze for 30 minutes to an hour more before serving. I use a glass loaf pan with a lid. When storing ice cream, it is always preferable to store it in a container that allows for greater surface area exposure. It is supposed to affect the flavor of the ice cream. After reading this, I noticed that all ice cream shops store their product in long, narrow containers, so I started doing it too. It allows you to make perfect, rounded scoops for nicer presentation.

Linzertorte

Salut Devon,

I recently spent a lovely afternoon playing piano duets and baking with my lady friend, Gunhild. We had a great time, both at the keyboard and in the kitchen. She has one of those amazing apartments filled with sentimental objects: faded prints, colorful rugs, dusty books printed in German Gothic type, and best of all, a grand piano and a harpsichord. Her apartment is in a beautiful part of upper Manhattan near Fort Tryon Park. Happy squeals from the children in the nearby playground drift through the open window as our linzertorte quietly bakes.


I had tasted Gunhild's linzertorte many times and always found it delicious. I figured the recipe was in her Austrian blood. So, you can imagine my surprise when I saw that the recipe came from an old edition of the Joy of Cooking! My astonishment was even greater when she handed me a gleaming copper bowl and a wooden spoon. Gunhild came of age before the electric mixer was widespread. If generations of bakers managed to make linzertortes without it, I suppose I could, too, at least for one afternoon. I did loudly object when she instructed me to beat the butter for an hour. This was seriously hard work. Even with soft butter, the process is slow and tedious. Adding flour, chopped nuts, and eggs only increased the effort. As the process wore on, I could feel the burn in my shoulder and the kink in my neck. All I can say is: I love my electric mixer.

With our linzertorte batter cooling in the freezer, I took a much needed rest with a restorative cup of tea. Freezing really helped to bring the batter together. The room temperature butter had gotten a bit too soft and greasy. 20 minutes or so later, we pulled it from the freezer and began building the torte. The 9-inch round springform pan was brought out and filled with 3/4 of the batter. Next came a thick, dark, luscious layer of raspberry jam. Use good jam (and butter) for this recipe. It definitely makes a difference. In lieu of piping the decorative lattice on top, Gunhild dipped her fingers into a nearby bowl of flour and rolled out skinny coils of dough. After the fuss I made over the electric mixer, I think she was a bit self-conscious about her latticework, insisting that she needed a piping bag. But I disagree: I love the rustic, uneven look of the hand-formed lattice. The linzertorte went into the hot oven and we headed over to the piano.


With the pleasant afternoon and the delectable linzertorte lingered in my thoughts, I decided to try it on my own with an electric mixer. Though I had faithfully copied her recipe, I consulted my edition of the Joy of Cooking. To my surprise, the recipes are different. For better or worse, I'm not sure. But I take comfort in her well-worn recipe. A few substitutions were made. Hazelnuts for almonds, and the flavor of jam. Raspberry jam was low, so I combined it with a blackberry variety from my favorite Italian grocery store at the Chelsea Markets. Good jam is one of my must haves. I don't eat jam a lot, but when I do, I want it to taste like fresh fruit. Some jams tend to be more sugar than fruit, making them excessively sticky and a bit tart. In place of the springform pan, I pulled out a 13 inch rectangular tart pan that I've been dying to use.
The resulting torte can only be described in my dear friend Fatima's recent email:

I thoroughly thoroughly thoroughly loved that torte! It tasted like a cross between a pecan shortbread and sour cherry pie -- DELICIOUS! I can't even say I like linzertortes -- I pass them by every time I see them, but that one was so buttery, nutty, semi-tart, goodness...it was a gem of a treat, THANKS.



Linzertorte
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup hazelnuts
1 1/4 cup flour, sifted
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
8 oz raspberry jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roast hazelnuts on a large baking sheet until fragrant. Using a large dishtowel, rub off the skins while the nuts are hot. Grind in a food processor. Set aside until ready to use.

Beat together sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in eggs, lemon zest, and ground hazelnuts. Sift flour, cloves, and cinnamon. Using a rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients. Cool in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

Let the dough come to room temperature. Spoon 3/4 of the batter into baking pan. Using an offset spatula or the back of a spoon, smooth out the batter into a smooth layer. Evenly, spread jam over the batter. With lightly floured fingers, roll remaining batter into long coils. Carefully arrange half the coils about 1 1/2 inches apart on the tart. Place the remaining coils on top at right angles to the already placed coils, forming a lattice pattern.

Bake until lattice is golden brown. 9 inch springform bakes for 50 minutes. 13 inch rectangular give 40-45 minutes.


I use the leftover batter to make butter cookies. Roll the remaining dough into small balls and place on a lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes until light golden brown.