Pear

Most Jews in France prior to the twentieth century used handwritten cookbooks passed down from mother to daughter. And since Alsace-Lorraine was under German occupation between 1871 and 1918, the majority of the Jews living there read German, using many of the dozen or so kosher cookbooks published in Germany in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Combing through these German books and her mother’s handwritten cookbook, Agar Lippmann, a caterer in Lyon, came across a recipe she had been trying to track down for years. Hutzel wecken, which literally means hat- or dome-shaped little rolls in German, is a very old Hanukkah and To B’Shevat (the new year of trees) fruitcake rarely made today. I prefer it treated more as bread, sliced very thin and served with cheese or really good butter. My guess is that the peanuts were a later addition. If you don’t have all the different dried fruits and nuts, just use what you have. The recipe is very flexible. Once, when I made it for a party, some of the guests liked it so much that, unbeknownst to me, they took home little slices hidden in paper napkins for their breakfast!

For this delicately scented fruit salad, have a mix of fruit chosen from three or four of the following: peaches, nectarines, apricots, bananas, plums, grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, mangoes, melon, pineapple, dates, pomegranate seeds.

This is a recipe that is similar to the chicken tagine on page 93, but the result is quite different. The sweetness of the pears goes surprisingly well with the lamb. Choose firm pears; if the fruit is too soft, they tend to collapse during the cooking. Comice and Bosc are good varieties. Use a boned shoulder of lamb or neck fillets, and trim only some—not all—of the fat.

Use pears that are ripe but still firm (Comice is a good variety) and salad leaves such as curly endive, chicory, cress, arugula, and lamb’s lettuce (mâche). You can stick to one type only or use a mix.

There’s something refined about baked pears. The subtle maple flavor suits them perfectly.

I’m not one to eat pears out of hand, but I like them—slightly underripe—in salads. Contrasted with the pleasant bite of goat cheese and the sweetness of dried cranberries, this salad is a party for the palate.

This visually stunning dish also packs a real flavor punch. Even people who don’t normally like tofu feast on this dish, though you can substitute beef, if you must. If you can get your hands on an Asian pear, use it here. Green beans are also good in this instead of the spinach. Serve this with Perfect Steamed Jasmine Rice (page 240).

A cobbler is the easiest way to get to something similar to a pie—meltingly tender and juicy fruit with a crusty topping—without having to make, roll out, and crimp pie dough. Biscuit dough, in general, is easy and fast to assemble, but the cream dough below is a real cinch because you don't even have to blend butter into the flour mixture; you just pour in heavy cream and stir, then pat it out with your hands. A round cutter is your default shape but feel free to rummage through your cookie cutter collection for something fun, such as a leaf or diamond.

A fruit-filled ice ring will melt more slowly than ice cubes, which means it won't water down your punch.

This is one of our End of Prohibition party special punch recipes and it was adapted from the Philadelphia Fish House punch, which was a favorite of Generals Washington and Lafayette. We replaced the original cognac with our local Laird’s AppleJack and got something fantastic as a result. We use all seasonal fruits for this—a beautiful feature that also makes it extra tasty.

Arugula and pears flourish during the cooler late-autumn weather. Put them together for a great balance of sweet and piquant. The arugula is lightly dressed with a maple-sweetened vinaigrette to accentuate the natural flavor of the pears.

When coring the pears, make sure you also remove the fibrous portion along the line of the stem. Then, before serving, make sure to let the pears cool until they are just warm or room temperature. The flavor and texture is much richer once they've cooled. In fact, these pears are perfect for a dinner party or an event where food may be sitting out for a bit; the flavor actually gets better as they rest. Keep in mind the cooking time may vary depending on the variety of pear you use. Some are considerably firmer than others, so if the pears don't seem cooked enough after the suggested cooking time below, continue roasting them until they're very tender. It could take up to an additional half-hour if you get a really firm variety.

Even imperfect, not-quite-ripe pears will become tender and richly flavored when baked in a crisp (apples, of course, are another good way to go). What makes this crisp especially lovely is cardamom, an assertive, warm spice, traditional in baking (especially in Sweden) with a wonderfully home-filling aroma.

It's hearty and health-helping: Eating mushrooms regularly may help lessen women's breast cancer risk.

Pie for breakfast? Not quite, but the fragrance of this dish is so good that even the groggiest grouch will be lured out of bed. Look for ripe pears with out bruises, and keep at room temperature overnight. Cut the butter in a thin slice off the stick for melting evenly.

The combination of pears and raspberries is a definite palate pleaser. You can use any ripe pears in this recipe; if you use Bartletts, you need not peel them. We jazz up this pandowdy by adding candied ginger to the biscuit dough. The effect is a warm and spicy infusion that makes this rustic dessert a comfort food favorite. When you serve this pandowdy with a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on a cold autumn evening, you will have everyone "mmm'ing" and asking for more.

These nifty combinations of finely diced fruit and all-fruit preserves create nearly instant sauces. Each combination makes enough for four to six 1/3- to 1/2-cup servings as a topping.

This scrumptious dessert serves up sweet, seasonal fruit in filling, foolproof portions. And whole-grain oats top it off with a fluffy cobbler cap that's lusciously lowfat.

Editor's note: Serve this salad with Marcus Samuelsson's Maple-Glazed Tuna .

A towering dessert on the holiday sideboard always gets attention. And the oohs and aahs will only get louder when you cut in to reveal its moist crumb dotted with ruby-red cranberries and topaz-colored pear. Its scent of vanilla and spices is very inviting, while the brown sugar and cinnamon glaze is, of course, the icing on the cake.

This fall soup is like putting on the first sweater of the season: it just feels so good. Although the soup takes several steps—roasting the squash and pears (which can be done a day ahead of time), cooking them, and finally pureeing the soup—none involve much from you. It's an easily made soup that will keep well for days—a great possibility for a holiday meal.

When layered with tender, brandy-spiked pears and a fluffy maple-flavored frosting, spice cake sheds its old-fashioned modesty, becoming impressive enough for any Thanksgiving sideboard. While it will surely satisfy the cake fans at your holiday gathering, it just might tempt a few diehard pie lovers, as well.