Caramelized Pear "Cupcakes" With Blue Cheese Frosting

I was on my way out the door to work the other day and for some reason I said to Snacky Pants, "what would go with Blue Cheese Frosting?", and she gamely replied "pears of course". And then I was thinking of a great post (that I can't seem to find) that Dana had over at tastingmenu.com about a meal she prepared that was all sweet savories and savory sweets. I love the idea of that. Here's my first try at this concept. I used puff pastry and caramelized the pears in a skillet, making alternating layers. Then I added smoked Spanish paprika (pimenton dulce) and baked them in mini muffin tins. For the icing I mixed about 1/3 Pena Azul (a Spanish blue cheese) with 2/3 plain cream cheese and a bit of lemon juice, and topped them with a few grains of the red Hawaiian Alaea sea salt. Verdict: pretty good, not bad for a first try at a totally new area of cooking for me. Definitely fun but I think the flavors need a bit of refinement. Also I bet using phyllo instead of puff pastry would be appealing. I didn't have mini parchment cupcake wrappers, but that would add to the effect, and clearly I should take more care in piping out the frosting. I think the Pena Azul is too salt, I think I would try a Gorgonzola Dolce instead. You could serve them an appetizer with a good sherry. Here's an approximate recipe:

Caramelized Pear "Cupcakes" With Blue Cheese Frosting
Makes 6

• 1/2 lb. homemade or frozen all-butter puff pastry
• 2 ripe but still firm pears
• 1 T. sugar
• 2 t. smoked spanish pimenton de la vera (dulce) paprika
• 1/4 c. Pena Azul Gorgonzola dolce or other blue cheese
• 1/2 c. cream cheese
• 1 T or so lemon juice
• red Hawaiian Alaea sea salt for garnish
• butter

1. Preheat oven to 350 and butter 6 spots in a mini-muffin tin
2. Slice the pears about 3/16" thick, skipping the core
3. Find a couple circle cutters the approximate size of the top and bottom of your muffin tin. Cut 6 small and 6 larger circles of pear. You'll have lots of pear leftover to eat.
4. Heat a skillet on medium, add a bit of butter, and after it melts, sprinkle in the sugar. Add the pear slices and cook a few minutes on each side, til nicely caramelized.
5. Again with the circle cutters, cut 6 small and twelve larger circles of puff pastry.
6. Put a small piece of puff pastry in each muffin tin, top with a slice of pear, and add a pinch of the paprika. Repeat, and finish with a layer of pastry.
7. Bake about 15-17 minutes until golden brown
8. To make the icing, just warm both cheese in the microwave for 30 seconds or so until beatable, add the lemon juice, and go at it with a small whisk until smooth. Don't put any salt in the icing because you want to be able to garnish with it. Taste and adjust.
9. Cool the cupcakes, remove from muffin tins, and pipe on the icing with a pastry bag or cut the corner off a small ziplock. Top with a few grains of the red salt.

New Day, New Name!

When I started this blog, the impulse to create it THAT VERY MOMENT superseded the fact that I wasn't really happy with the name The Vegetarian Foodie. Many of you offered great suggestions and I bent the ears of everyone around me. My friend MG suggested Herbivoracious and the more I sat with it, the more I felt it really captured my attitude towards vegetarian food. I don't want to eat animals, and I do have a voracious appetite, not so much in sheer quantity but in the desire to try everything I can, learn everything I can, cook everything as well as I can, and share great meals with people I love. So Herbivoracious is the new name and I hope everyone likes it!

Dragonfruit, Dragon Fruit, Is That A Pitaya In Your Pocket?

... or are you just glad to see me? I'm glad to have made the acquaintance of this tropical fruit, known also as a Strawberry Pear, Nanettikafruit, Thanh Long, as well as the more common names of Dragonfruit (or Dragon Fruit), and Pitaya. Apparently it comes in several varieties and can be grown in many tropical parts of the world, but the organic one I spied today (costing a double-take-inducing $12/pound!) at Madison Market had red skin and and stunning neon-magenta flesh dotted with small black seeds.

The flavor and texture immediately reminded me of a giant kiwi fruit, although they are apparently not relatives. The dragonfruit grows on a cactus, while kiwi is from a vine. Nonetheless, the slightly grainy, watery flesh and seeds were very reminiscent. The flavor is mildly sweet and tangy, not particularly intense.

While tasty enough to eat out of hand, at that price I don't think many of us will be slicing pitaya up for an everyday breakfast. It would definitely be attention grabbing in a fruit salad or as a garnish. After puzzling about what I wanted to do with it, I landed on a quick sorbet that I served with a crepe filled with chocolate ganache. To make the the sorbet I just pureed the flesh with quite a bit of honey and a few grains of sea salt, and pushed it through a fine meshed sieve. You could put it in an ice cream maker, but I was in a hurry, so I poured it out on a baking sheet, set it level in the freezer, and agitated it with a fork every few minutes while I prepared the crepes, until it firmed up nicely. The sorbet developed a slightly gelatinous texture, which I liked but some (Snacky Pants, are you with me?) might find unappealing. That must be due to some chemical property of the fruit, but I don't know the technical explanation. I think it would also make a great ice cream, though of course the color would become pastel. If I made it again I think I would use agave nectar instead of honey for the milder flavor and the nice symmetry of using two cactus-based ingredients. Shot of tequila anyone?