I bought some beautiful pears the other day and have been meaning to make Clotilde’s recipe for this rich and fruity treat. I followed her instructions until the ganache where I spaced out while marvelling into the creamy chocolatey goodness being created before me. The cool crisp taste of the pears against the velvety chocolate is almost thirst quenching. The colder the better, this is really delicious!

Crust:
1 1/2 c flour
1 stick less 1 tb, chilled and cubed
2 tb plus 1 ts cocoa
1/2 c plus 1 tb sugar
splash milk
Pulse in a food processor untill consistency is sandy and sticks together when pressing between your fingers. Pour into a tart pan and press evenly onto the sides and bottom. Bake for 8 minutes at 340 degrees and let cool.

Pears:
1/2 c sugar
3 pears, peeled. quartered. and cored
Cover with water in a saucepan and pour sugar over the top. Cook for 10-15 minutes untill soft. Drain, cool, and pat dry.

Ganache:
1 bar bittersweet chocolate, coarsly chopped
1/2 c cream plus 2 tb
2 tb butter
2 egg yolks, thoroughly beaten
1ts sugar

On a very low heat melt the chocolate into the cream and add the sugar. Slowly wisk in the eggs, continue wisking untill mixture has thickened. Add butter, stir to combine, and pour into the tart shell. Arrange the pear slices in a circular design and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving with coffee.

{tags chocolate pear recipe}

I’m not exactly sure what it is about this story that makes me so happy, but I am just beside myself right now. A combination of this most excellent news and my morning coffee has sent me into high orbit good and proper.

Last week I read an article about former Canadian Defence Minister, Paul Hellyer, who officially asked Canadian Parliament to hold public hearings on Exopolitics. Exopolitics, my pretties, is relations with aliens.

Hellyer thinks we need to be proactive in dealing with the possibility of an intergalactic war before its too late. I’m with him on this one, I mean I saw War of the Worlds. Did anyone even ask Tom Cruise what he thinks? Hel-lo, he’s already defended us from hostile space mosters once. AND WON, mind you.

This morning I read another story about, Richard Carrigan, a particle physicist, who believes the SETI program is putting Earth’s security at risk. Incase you haven’t heard, SETI uses giant telescopes to scour the universe for stray signals, or intentional interplanetary broadcasts emitted from other civilizations.

Carrigan believes transmissions received, that are distributed onto computers around the world, are potentially dangerous to earth’s safety. I ran SETI@home for years and now it turns out a global hacking is in order, isn’t that great? Maybe Microsoft can partner with Sony to release a patch!

{tags seti exopolitics}

{tags weekend cat blogging cute kitty}

I’m way into sesame seeds and sesame oil these days but for some unknown reason I shun asparagus. The super salty procsiutto and toasty sesame seeds are really nice wrapped around the delicate asparagus. The flavors are so distinctly separate yet complimentary, making for a surprising treat.

asparagus, 1 bunch
Prosciutto, thinly sliced
toasted sesame seeds
1 egg, lightly beaten with 2 tb cold water
1/4 c flour
veggie oil

Snap the ends off the asparagus and plunge into boiling water and set aside. Wait 2-3 minutes untill they turn bright green and remove from water and set aside. Set up three shallow bowls, one each for flour, sesame seeds, and egg mixture.

Tightly roll two pieces of asparagas in one piece prosciutto, dust with flour, roll in egg, and then sesame seeds. Cover the bottom of a nonstick pan with oil an set to a medium heat.

Gently place in the hot oil and cook for about 3 minutes on both sides untill the seeds golden and toasty. Transfer to paper towels to remove any excess oil. No salt or pepper is neededsince the natural flavors of procsiutto and sesame really come out after being cooked.

{tags sesame asparagus prosciutto recipe}

This recipe is so simple and delicious. I always have miso and ginger around because they are some of my favorite flavors to cook with. The buttery swordfish goes so well with the salty yet mellow miso, and the ginger freshens up the taste just right. All you need is:

Sworfish Steaks
Light Yellow Miso
Fresh Ginger, crushed in a garlic press or diced super fine
White Pepper
grapeseed or any light veggie oil

Mix together 1ts ginger with 2tb miso per piece of fish. Use a garlic press for the ginger if you can to get all the gingery juices flowing.

Rub miso mixture onto both sides of the fish and place in a baking dish. Lightly sprinkle with white pepper, and drizzle with a small amount of grapeseed or vegetable oil. You don’t need to add any salt because the miso has plenty.

Bake at 400 degrees uncovered untill cooked through and miso has begun to caramelize. About 20 minutes depending, becareful not to overcook. Squeeze lemon over the top and enjoy.

{tags ginger miso swordfish recipe}

(click image to steal my backgrounds)

One of my favorite authors is Michael Crichton because he does his research and you always feel like you’ve learned something afterwards. For example, after reading Prey, I went ahead and bought nanotech stocks since I’m now qualified on the subject to make an informed decision. Likewise with Airframe, before take-offs I now inspect the the wings’ construction and volunteer myself to man the emergency exits. I mean who better than me to assist in an emergency, right?

Most recently in State of Fear, Crichton wrote how environmental extremist groups can be just as corrupt as the corporations that make sure earth gets ravaged into a post apocalyptic wasteland. He made a point to mock high society and hollywood elite by illustrating the hypocrisy in their campaign to save the planet. While I totally see his point, having a conciousness about destruction and pollution which is obviously bad has to be a good thing. And thats badass.

The celebrity earth hippy cult, though, are an enlightened crowd. The compassionate smiles, the deep secret understanding, their unsolicited backrubs while whispering sweet nothings about saving spaceship earth into your ear before konking you over the head and dragging you back to their solar powered caves… What? Oh thats right I was blogging.

{tags celebrity earth hippy cult}

I didn’t plan on cooking anything today untill I saw that some zucchini and leek that I had were fading fast and I hate to waste food. I also had 1/3 sheet of puff pastry left from when I made this, so armed with a cocktail, heres what I came up with. We ate this for dinner, but it would be great any time.

2 zucchini, sliced into discs
1 leek, chopped
4 eggs, beaten
2 tb butter
1/4 c milk
1/4 c grated mozzerella, or any mild cheese
2 ts flour
1/8 ts baking powder
coarse sea salt
frash cracked black pepper
1/3 sheet puff pastry, optional

Saute the leeks in 1 tb butter for 5 minutes, remove from pan and set aside. Melt another tb butter into the pan and saute zucchini for 8-10 minutes. They should still be firm, just barely cooked. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper. Beat together eggs, flour, baking powder, milk, cheese, leeks, and pinch of salt and pepper.

Line a round tort pan with parchment paper, spray with oil and layer zucchini on the bottom of the pan.

Then add the egg mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes untill just firm. Leaving the oven on, remove and set aside.

Slice the puff pastry into 5 strips and criss-cross on top of the torte cutting off the excess. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes untill golden. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Afterthought: This would be delicious with all kinds of different veggies, it’s really just a way to use up what you already have. Spinach, peas, corn, onions, tomatoes, fresh herbs, anything would work. So work it, yo!

{tags leek torte recipe zucchini}

{tags weekend cat blogging cute kitty}

1) Hacking the projector so we don’t have to spend $500 on a new bulb.

2) Hacking the car to pass emissions and save us god knows how much money.

3) Bribing gov’t officials at the DMV to save us hours of torture.

4) Always bringing me beautiful flowers.

5) For finally teaching me how to use photoshop.

{tags flowers bribery}

One of LA’s mainstays is a deli called Izzy’s on Wilshire. It’s our favorite place for breakfast because not only is the food great but it’s always abound with impromptu celebrity drama. We also do takeout alot since its just around the corner from our house and I can have the BEST split pea soup EVER. Dip a toasty buttery bagel in there and omigod, you just might break into song about the savory delight right there at the deli counter. Hey, you might! I accidentally bought some split peas the other day thinking they were lentils so I went ahead and made some soup. It came out unbelievably good, dare I say even better than Izzy. Shhh, I don’t want Andy Dick knocking on my door with no pants on and an empty soup bowl in hand.

1 bag dry split peas
1 lg can chicken stock
1 yellow onion, diced small
2 carrots, diced small
2 stalks celery, diced small
2 strips bacon, diced small
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups water
coarse sea salt
cracked black pepper
1 vegitable boullion cube, optional

In a large pot over a medium heat, saute the bacon untill the oil has come out. Turn heat to high and add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, and some salt and pepper. Saute for about 7 minutes and then add stock, water, split peas, boullion cube, and bring to a boil.

Cover and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour stirring at intervals. Adjust the salt and pepper and then cook for 20 minutes more. The peas should have fallen apart and the consistency is thick and smooth. Adjust with more stock or water if needed. Serve with a swirl of creme fraiche for extra yum.

{tags split pea soup recipe}