roasted pears w/ raspberries, blackberries & ricotta

Today we have the rarest of all types of posts here on BonChap - dessert! I'm not a huge dessert person in general, usually I'll just have a yogurt or piece of fruit. Which, now that I've typed that, I see that this recipe is just a baby step away from that. Still - baby steps! It's a great dish that actually fills you up. Best of a night when you've had an early dinner and need something to hold you over 'til bedtime. Here's what you'll need:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 unpeeled pears (I used half Bosc and half Bartlett), quartered, cored
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 12-ounce package frozen blackberries and raspberries (or really any frozen berry combo)
• 1 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese (it'd be perfectly tasty with vanilla ice cream as well)

peach ricotta spring rolls

Sorry for the prolonged absence. Way too much to do, way too little cooking going on as of late. In some odd twist of fate, I take a week off from blogging and make my return with ... something incredibly similar to last dish I posted! That's right, I'm back with another peachy dessert. I can't take any credit for this one though - it's lifted directly from Gabi over at BrokeAss Gourmet. Make sure you check out the site, it has tons of great looking food. As for the spring rolls, here's what you'll need:

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 4 peaches, cored and diced
• 3 tbsp ricotta cheese
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• Salt and pepper
• 8 large spring roll wrappers
• Oil for frying (you should probably use vegetable; Dan and I used olive, because it's what we had on hand)

Begin by warming up the balsamic vinegar over medium heat in non-stick pan. Stir often while you're preparing everything else, until it reduces to a nice, syrupy consistency. Remove and set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the peaches, ricotta and sugar along with a pinch of salt and pepper. Then assemble the rolls by placing a healthy spoonful of the mixture in the middle of a spring roll wrapper. Tuck in the sides and roll it closed.

Place about 2 inches of oil in a deep, non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Gently place the rolls in the oil. You'll want to place them seam side down and hold them there for about a minute each until they start to harden in order to ensure that they don't just unroll (it happens really easily). Fry each for just a couple minutes until they turn crispy, golden brown. Drain on paper towels and let cool for about 5-10 minutes. Serve with the balsamic reduction drizzled on top.

Bon chappétit!

stuffed peaches

While perusing some cookbooks for a dessert recently, I came across a recipe for baked, stuffed peaches and was instantly reminded of how delicious my last venture into cooked peaches turned out. These were totally different, but nonetheless delicious once again (and it doesn't require a grill!) Here's what you'll need:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5 peaches
• 1/4 sugar
• 4 amaretti cookies, crushed
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Begin by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. Peel, halve, pit and chop up one of the peaches and place in a bowl. Halve and pit the remaining peaches. Scoop out a little flesh from the cavity of each and add it to the bowl. Stir in the sugar, amaretti, egg yolks and cocoa powder.

Divide the mixture among the peaches, placing it in the cavity of each and piling into a dome. Dot each with a slice of butter, and place the peaches into a greased baking dish. Bake for one hour and serve hot.

Bon chappétit!

pears w/ fig jam & pecorino romano

Dessert! I don't make it often. When I do, I tend to gravitate towards cheese or fruit-based dishes. This one in particular has both. It was unique, simple and delicious. Here's what you'll need:

• 2 tablespoons toasted almonds (or hazelnuts)
• 1/4 lb. moist, dry figs
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
• 6 oz. wedge of pecorino romano
• 3 ripe pears (I went with Bosc)

Begin by trimming the stems from the figs and cutting each into 4 or 5 small chunks. In a small saucepan over high heat, combine the figs with 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

While that's cooling, put the nuts in a food processor and pulse a couple times. Add the figs (along with the water), brandy, sugar, lemon zest and juice and pulse until the figs are coarsely chopped. Taste and add more sugar if desired.

Using a knife, break the cheese into several smaller chunks. Lastly, halve the pears, coar them, and slice thinly lengthwise. Serve the cheese, pears and jam together on a serving platter, or eat them right then and there.

This dish was pretty great. It could totally work at breakfast/bruch, as finger food at a party, or just a simple dish to chow down on for a snack.

Bon chappétit!

blueberry cheesecake

While home over the 4th of July, I decided to try and get a little fancy for the family picnic and take a stab at a full-on blueberry cheesecake. I'm not quite sure if this was really an actual cheesecake; however, I'm positive that it was absolutely delicious. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and judging by the fact that there was barely any left over, I took their compliments as genuine. Best part of it - there's really no actual baking. Here's what you'll need:

Crust:

• 9 whole graham crackers
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 3 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
• 12 ounces Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3 cups fresh blueberries

Topping:

• 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 1/2-pint baskets blueberries
• 2/3 cup blueberry preserves

Before you start, keep in mind that you need to prepare the crust and filling the day before, in order to let them set in the fridge overnight. The topping can be done a few hours before serving.

For crust, preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until graham crackers are finely ground. Add butter and vanilla; process until moist crumbs form. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Bake crust until deep golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool.

For filling, pour 1/4 cup water into small saucepan; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir over very low heat just until gelatin dissolves. Set aside.

Blend cream cheese, cream, sugar, and lemon juice in processor until smooth. Add berries; puree until smooth (some blueberry bits will remain). With machine running, add warm gelatin mixture through feed tube and blend well. Pour filling into crust. Cover; chill overnight. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.) Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Release pan sides. Transfer to platter.

For topping, beat cream and sugar in medium bowl until firm peaks form. Spread cream mixture thickly over top of cheesecake. Place berries in bowl. Heat jam in small saucepan over low heat until just melted. Pour jam over berries; toss to coat. Mound coated berries in center of cream, leaving 1-inch plain border. Chill cake at least 1 hour and up to 1 day.

This wasn't nearly as daunting as the length of the recipe makes it seem. Definitely give it a try. The results were delicious, and even better the next day.

Bon chappétit!

grilled peaches

So I'm finally back in action after a much-needed trip back home. Five days of nothing but wading around a glorious pool and grilling various meats, fruits and vegetables was more than I could have asked for. Up first from my travels over the 4th is...grilled peaches! I'd honestly never thought of grilling fruit before, but lately it seems like everyone's doing it - grilling watermelon (Jes - how'd that turn out?), pineapples, etc. I decided to try this recipe, and it went over pretty well (and more importantly, was super easy). Here's what you'll need:

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 unpeeled peaches, halved, pitted
• 1/3 cup white chocolate

Mix the melted butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Then toss your peaches around to get them good and covered. Grill on medium, cut side down for about 5 minutes, then turn them over, add the white chocolate into the cavity left from the pit and drizzle with remaining sauce. I left these on for probably another 10 minutes. You don't want to burn them, but you want to leave them on long enough to melt the chocolate and really get that grilled flavor in there. They came out great - the family really seemed to enjoy.

Bon chappétit!

PS. It's good to be back :)

fruit cobbler

So I should preface this recipe by noting that it might not actually be a cobbler.  I feel as though that's what it should be called, and therefore, it's a cobbler to me. Anyways, Dan and I made a fruit "cobbler" this weekend for dessert, and it was insanely easy and delicious. Here's what you'll need:

• Fruit (I used 1 white peach, 1 yellow peach, raspberries and blackberries)
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• 1 package of biscuits

All we did was peel and slice up the peaches, then we mixed the fruit together in a bowl with the flour and sugar, and divided them among a couple ramekins. If you were making a larger portion, you could totally do this in a baking dish. However, we were only making two individual servings.

After placing the fruit in the ramekins, we topped each with a Grands biscuit.  I'm sure you could really use any biscuit of your choice, or even make your own from scratch if you're not as lazy as I am.  We baked these at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes (really, we just watched for the biscuit to get nice and golden.  Let them cool for a few minutes and you're done.

Bon chappétit!

bread pudding

So, I'll open by admitting that I really don't understand bread pudding. I've seen it on dessert menus, but it seems like a breakfast dish to me. Furthermore, I really don't know why I ever tried it in the first place. I suppose I just had these ingredients around and decided...why not? Here's what you'll need:

• 6 slices of day-old bread (I love this with the wheat bread that has honey and molasses in the ingredients OR those flavored cinnamon raisin breads...but any bread will do)
• 2 cups milk
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle the melted butter (or margarine, I say butter, but I actually always use margarine) over the bread. If desired - and you should, because they make the dish - sprinkle with raisins.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed the pour over the bread. Lightly push down with a fork until the bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. This is awesome when hot, awesome the next morning cold. Just all-around awesome.

fondente al cioccolato

Literally, "melting to the chocolate," this recipe for delicious little chocolate cakes.  I'm not a huge dessert fan, but I highly enjoyed this.  Here's what you'll need:

For the creme:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar

For the cakes:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 7 oz. bittersweet chocolate (preferably 70% cacao, cut into small pieces)
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• Cocoa powder for dusting

To make the creme, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat until small bubbles appear along the edges.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.  Meanwhile in a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow (5 minutes or so, doubles as a killer forearm exercise).  Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg mixture and continue stirring.  Next, pour the contents back into the saucepan and place over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, or about 5-10 minutes.  Pour the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and add the vanilla extract.  Put some plastic wrap directly on the surface of the mixture and place in the refrigerator to cool.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Grease up a muffin pan (this makes about 6-8 muffin-sized cakes) and flour generously, tapping out the excess flour.

To make the cakes, combine the heavy cream and chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over (not touching!) barely simmering water, and heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate melts and the mixture is uniform.

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale yellow (same as before).  Pour in the chocolate mixture while whisking constantly (you'll need all four hands for this part).

Divide the mixture into the muffin cups and bake until the top of each cake is firm to the touch (10-15 minutes).  The center of each cake will still be liquid.  Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes.

To serve, simply place the cakes on a plate and spoon some of the creme alongside each cake.  Done, and done.