Kiwi Pear Basil Smoothie

Hi ! Hope you all are keeping well and enjoying summer to the fullest. We've been busy packing our way off USA. With only three weeks left to go to India, the move is finally feeling more real every day. Piece by piece our furnitures are selling off, cardboard boxes are getting filled and stacked around the corners. Our car is sold and right now, we are pretty much dependent on friends and rentals to move around. The move is a little confusing for our toddler. He was born here and to him, India has always meant holiday. He cannot yet understand the need to give away everything before leaving for India... Guess it'll take sometime before the idea of moving countries sink into him..

Herbed Manchego Cheese Soufflé with Onion Pear Jam

Earlier today I shared with you the recipe of a spicy Onion Pear Jam and as a teaser for what was about to follow, I shared a photograph of my herbed Manchego cheese soufflé topped with the spicy Jam. I had planned to post the souffle sooner... but then life happened and I had to wait till everything fell into place and I was free to jot down the recipe.. 

So here's the recipe of the cheese soufflé for you... I adapted it from Dorie's recipe of Muenster cheese soufflé. A few weeks back I had tried out her recipe for French Fridays with Dorie and found it a little bland for my taste. Recounting the experience I tweaked the recipe this time to add more flavors and guess what.... this time it turned out great. The soufflé tasted delicious with the added herbs and spicy jam and this time both husband and I loved it. 

Spicy Onion Pear Jam

Todays recipe is adapted from La Mia Cucina, the blog that belonged to the original Daring Baker,  Lisa Cifelli. She recently passed away and in her memory many Daring Bakers and old time bloggers posted gorgeous bakes soon after...  I did not know her personally or even otherwise but was led to her space and this particular Onion-Pear Jam several times in the past few weeks. It looked too interesting to pass off. So I adjusted today's menu and decided to give it a try..

It turned out even more gorgeous than I had imagined.

Pear Chestnut Soup # French Fridays with Dorie

Delicious and Sublime !!  that is exactly what I thought about this Pear Chestnut soup.

Had it not been for French Fridays with Dorie, I would have never known how delicious this combination can be. And the likes of my husband and son, who prefer to eat their fruits and nuts as fruits n nuts and not cooked and pureed into a soup... will probably never know how good this combination is. 

Being well aware of their preferences, I cooked only a sixth of the recipe for lunch today and really enjoyed it with a slice of bread slathered with butter. I generally have very high regard for Dorie's recipes and this one did not disappoint me. In fact I could get used to having it for lunch every single day of fall.. or till the flavors begin to tire my taste buds. 

I guess by habit I cooked the onions, leeks  and celery to the point of caramelizing the onions. My soup therefore looks browner than it should be. However  it tasted brilliant with the hint of thyme lurking in the background and that slice of pear on top. The flavors came across just right and I loved it. I'll probably cook it the exact same way next week when I make a bigger batch for my lunch. 

So much today. Visit French Fridays with Dorie to know what the other members thought about this soup.

You can find a version of the recipe here .  I almost used the same measures except that I used roasted chestnuts instead of vacuum packed ones and a slice of pear as garnish instead of a dollop of cream. For Dorie's original recipe and more such delicious ones order your copies of Around the French Table from Amazon or from The Book Depository and join us as we cook our way through the book.

Maple Glazed Pear Jam Doughnut Muffins # Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge

Its time for another round of Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge. This month Sheryl challenged us to prepare a dessert with pear and maple. With my spiced pear jam in hand I knew exactly what I wanted to prepare...Maple Glazed Doughnut Muffins with Pear Jam filling...

I had booked this recipe by Nigella a while ago. The muffins looked cute and attractive and I was certain that my son and husband would like it ... Well. I was partially right about that. Husband loved it. So did I. But our son refused to taste... which meant more fluffy yummy muffins for us :D...  We enjoyed them with our evening tea, then at midnight with some hot milk and again for breakfast the following day. Thankfully I had made a small batch or else we would still be feasting on them and then felt guilty about eating so many muffins at a go.....

Spiced Pear Jam

Yesterday morning I spotted three soft green Anjou pears in the fruit basket that were desperately seeking my attention. One had browned in parts and the others were threatening to take that route. after a week of birthday cakes, no one in the house was in the mood for another cake... so a preserve was in order. Soon after the boys left, I googled for a recipe of pear jam, one that did not require pectin. This one popped up and minutes later a big pan was set to simmer with all the listed ingredients and a few more... Two hours later I was rewarded with two jars of DELICIOUS jam. Husband loved it and I did too... and ever since I have been wondering why we have never bought a jar of pear jam. Its so darn delicious ! 

Spiced Pear Jam Adapted from Taste of Home
Preparation Time : 5 minutes                          Cooking Time: 2 hours 15-30 minutes                        Yield : 22 oz
Ingredients      4 cups of chopped Green Anjou Pears ( I chopped 3 pears, did not peel them. just removed the bruised and damaged parts)  2 cups sugar 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 4 sticks of clove 11/2 tbsp lime juice zest and pulp from 1/4 of a juicy orange -   Instructions Combine all the ingredients in a large enough preferably non-stick container. Simmer, uncovered for 2 hours to 2 hour 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir more frequently as the mixture thickens.  Once the mixture has attained the desired consistency, switch off the heat and ladle the mixture into sterilized jars.

Sharing this at the following weekly parties..

Monday Food: Made with Love Mondays, Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Inspiration Monday Party, Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party,Mix it up Monday, The Scoop

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Tasty Tuesday, Hearth and Soul blog Hop

Wednesday Food: What's Cooking Wednesday @ Buns in my Oven, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food:      Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes 

Rum and Raisin Pear Buckle

Last night while hopping around the blogs, I landed on Bake for Happy Kids. In the sidebar I spotted that today was the in "Bake Along" they were baking Fruit Buckle. I was a little curious about what buckles were, so i googled and decided to bake along with them... and today i baked a Rum and Raisin Pear Buckle....

well, Rum & Raisin is my latest craze. I had planned a rum & raisin ice-cream today. since the ice-cream plan had to be delayed, i sneaked in some of that combination in the buckle. it worked really well. I used Angostura Trinida & Tobago Caribbean rum (aged 7 years) in the recipe. but i guess any dark rum will work. the pears poached in rum taste great by itself. in case you haven't tried the combination you should cook up some right away. you'll thank me for the recommendation !

In case fruit buckles are new to you too... here is what they are. They are a type of cake in which fruits are added to the batter and are topped with a struesel. now why are they called buckles ? well because, as the cake bakes, it tends to "buckle" around the fruits. i also gathered that originally blueberries were the star-fruits used to bake buckles... but as it turned out, rum-poached pears also taste wonderful nestled in the cake ! 

Rum and Raisin Pear Buckle

ingredients for the fruit 1 1/2 green D'Anjou Pears, sliced lengthwise 1 tbsp unsalted butter 2 tbsps sugar 4 tbsps rum  2-3 tbsps water zest of 1/2 lemon pinch of salt 3 tbsps golden raisins for the streusel  3 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 tbsp oats 2 tbsp brown sugar (plus more if you like) 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder for the cake batter 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 2/3 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened 3 1/2 oz evaporated milk 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream 1/3 cup sugar -   what i did treating the fruit first i melted the butter in a saucepan, stirred in the sugar and added the pears. immediately afterwards i added the remaining ingredients to the saucepan and let the sliced pears poach in the liquid for 5 minutes. then switching off the heat i left the raisins in the liquid until they had plumped up a bit, about 30-45 minutes. for the struesel, i simply hand-mixed all the ingredients together and kept it aside. for the cake first i preheated the oven to 375 degrees F, lined a 6 inch springfoam pan with a parchment paper, then sifted the flour, salt and baking soda together and set it aside. next using the hand mixer i whipped the sugar with the butter until the mixture looked creamy. then added the evaporated milk and sour cream to the butter-sugar mixture and whisked till the mixture was well-combined.  i then stirred the sifted flour-mixture to the butter mixture with a light hand until the flour got incorporated into the batter.  then adding the soaked raisins in the batter, i poured it into the prepared springform pan, arranged the rum-poached pears on top of the batter in a circular pattern, spread the struesel  on top of the pear and transferred the pan into the preheated oven and baked for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted came out clean. -   references Pear-Blackberry Buckle from Diana's Recipe Book  Nectarine Brown Butter Buckle from Smitten Kitchen Poached Rum and Raisin Pears from Epicurious

all that said, I have a few concerns about the buckle. i think in trying to make the recipe eggless I might have overdone the oil in the cake. it oozed oil after being taken out off the oven. keeping that in mind, i think, replacing the sour cream with Greek yogurt might be a good idea. also the crumb could use a little less butter, perhaps two tablespoons instead of three...

so much for today. Baking this along with Joe of  Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of  Kitchen Flavours, and Lena of Frozen wings, the three three baker-teers behind Bake Along....

also check out what the others have baked....

Also sharing this at the following weekly parties....

Monday Food : Made with Love Mondays, Marvelous Mondays @ This Gal Cooks, Meatless Monday @Veggie Mama's,  Meatless Monday My Sweet and Savory, Just Another Meatless Monday @ Hey What's for Dinner Mom, Melt in your Mouth Mondays, Mop It Up Monday, Mealtime Monday, Recipe Sharing Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Maniac Monday Linky Party

Tuesday Food:  Totally Tasty Tuesday @ Mandy's Recipe Box, Tasteful Tuesday Party @ Nap Time Creations,  Show Me What You Got @ Our Delightful Home,  Hand Made Tuesday @ Ladybug Blessings, Share it Link Party @ Winthrop Chronicles, Hearth and Soul Blog Hop , Tasty Tuesday

Wednesday Food : What's Cooking Wednesday @ Confessions of Overworked Mom, Cast Party Wednesday @ Lady Behind the Curtain ,  Wednesday Whatsit @White Lights on , Show and Share @ Semi Homemade Mom, Wonderful Food Wednesdays at @ Home Take 2, Seasonal Celebration @ Natural Mother's Network

Thursday Food: Link it Up Thursday @ Seven Alive, Creative Thursday @ Michelle's Tasty Creations, Fantastic Thursday @ Three Little Chiefs, Thriving on Thursdays @ Domesblissity, Freedom Friday @ My Turn, Full Plate Thursday @ Miz Helen's Country Cottage  

Friday Food: Foodie Friday @ Home Maid Simple, Friday Favorite (DYI too) @ Simple Sweet Home, Foodie Friday @ Not Your Ordinary Recipes,  Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm , Weekend Wonders @ The Thriftiness Miss, Friday Food Frenzy @ Mostly Food and Crafts , Weekend Potluck @ Sunflower Supper Club,  The Weekend re-Treat @The Best Blog  Recipes