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Recipe: grilled lobster

Remember the surf we had for Thanksgiving dinner yesterday?

it stirs the memories and some salivation

Tonight we continued the debauchery with a little bit o’ turf. I wanted to serve it with potatoes and sweet potatoes. I think it was a very good idea to postpone the beef until tonight otherwise I may have wound up in food coma or worse.

nice and standard tenderloin

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Recipe: pear ice cream and wine poached pears

It’s the right time for pears. I enjoy pears, but the fruit carries some baggage for me. In Chinese, the word for pear is a homophone of the word to split or to leave. My grandmother and mom never allowed splitting a pear between two people (for fear that you would be separated). However, splitting among three or more is okay. I never quite understood all of it, but they scared me so much with their superstitions that I follow it (and many others) to this day. I even consulted with my grandmother to find out if it was okay for us to share a pear with the dog. She gave it some consideration and concluded that yes, it was okay, since the dog is part of our family and that makes three.

About nine years ago, I was in Argentina for field work and the whole team was in camp together for one night. We usually paired off and only met up in town for supplies, downloading data, and meeting with local geologists. Ben and I dropped by a grocery store en route to camp and I picked up some ingredients for dessert to follow the asado. I made poached pears in red wine sauce and served it with vanilla ice cream (which I kept cool by tying the carton in a plastic bag and chucking it into a freezing cold stream on a leash). It was suprisingly good, but I think everything tastes better in the backcountry. Seeing pears on sale at the store stirred up those old memories.

First I made some ice cream – pear ice cream. Now with my copy of The Perfect Scoop in hand, I dabbled with DL’s pear and pecorino ice cream. Fruits like pear and lychee have such subtle and almost flowery flavors that they beg to be made as ice cream.

probably too much pear, now that i think of it

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It is fascinating that you can get raspberries from the southern hemisphere in the dead of winter here, or that you can find apples and oranges throughout the summer months. That’s the beauty of a global market. I noticed in graduate school that for being in the middle of nowhere (Ithaca, NY) our grocer was able to provide gorgeous produce year-round. What a treat. But anyone with a single functioning taste bud can tell you there is a striking difference between a winter strawberry and one that is in season. Flavor, texture, color, juice – it is all superior in the summer. Same goes for tomatoes and other produce. Buying foods that are in season not only gives you a superior food specimen, but is more ecologically friendly when considering the energy required to deliver said import to your hot little hands. What do I think of when summer approaches? Berries, melons, squash, tomatoes – tons and tons of fresh produce to be eaten raw or grilled. How about winter? Brassicas like brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, broccoli are so delicious roasted. Root vegetables are terrific in soups and slow-cooked stews. Pumpkin in fall ushers in my favorite of all holidays – Halloween! Apples and other citrus are usually associated with summer, but they are fall and winter’s bounty. Hot apple cider mulled with cloves, cinnamon, and slices of orange keep guests coming back for more through the New Year. Yum!

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