Savoring National Pear Month with Pear Blue Cheese Bacon Pizza

Blue cheese, onion and bacon give pears a savory twist on this pizza. Recipe below.

December seems an odd month to honor any produce that isn’t a root vegetable. At least that’s what I thought until we recently attended a pear-focused luncheon at Chicago’s Blackbird. The event was hosted by Pear Bureau Northwest as part of an eight-city tour aimed primarily at helping people understand how to tell when pears are ripe and ready to eat. More about that later.

We were treated to a four-course meal by Chef de Cuisine David Posey that showcased pears’ versatility, from pear and butternut squash soup with blis char roe enrobed in stout foam to leg of lamb with roasted pears, maitake mushrooms and hearts of palm and, for dessert, warm beignets with butterscotch, spiced brittle, pears and maple ice cream. We were also treated to lively conversation between delicious bites, much of it about food, but only a little of it about pears. Still, we came away knowing a great deal about this popular fruit. Continue reading “Savoring National Pear Month with Pear Blue Cheese Bacon Pizza” →

Enjoying the return of berries with a simple Berry Blue Cheese Watercress Salad

Blueberries, raspberries, watercress, butter lettuce and blue cheese all shine in this simple salad. Recipe below.

Berries are suddenly abundant in the supermarket—and therefore in our fridge. After not having them for so long, or else having them be too well traveled and hideously expensive to consider, we can’t seem to go to the store now without bringing some home.

Looking for ways to use up some of the unexpected bounty, I started thinking of salads. Nothing exuberant and overly busy, just something simple that would let the berries—and everything else—shine. When I first started eating salads—willingly, I mean—I viewed lettuce as nothing more than a vehicle for multiple ladles of gloppy, sweet dressing. Then I dallied with salad bars and their countless edible doodads and distractions for a while. Continue reading “Enjoying the return of berries with a simple Berry Blue Cheese Watercress Salad” →

Endive, blue cheese: A great salad remembered

This Endive Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts always reminds me of one of my favorite little New York bistros. Recipe below.

SOMETIMES A RESTAURANT JUST CLICKS WITH YOU. The food, the setting, the staff—even the moment it’s part of. Lucien, in Manhattan’s East Village, is just such a place for us. The moment it fit so neatly into the first time we ate there was the first time Marion and I managed to get to New York together. Marion had spent lots of time there, and I had made a number of three-day solo forays in search of art, jazz and booze [all plentiful there, by the way]. But we only got around to getting there together when I won a trip for two on Taco Bell’s website a few years ago. Seriously. Continue reading “Endive, blue cheese: A great salad remembered” →