November 27, 2005

The Fount of Useless Information's Nashi Pear Pie

I absolutely love Asian (or Nashi) Pears. They have a great crisp consistency like the best apples and have a gentle sweet taste. I figured there had to be a way to make an excellent pie out of them, but I haven't seen a recipe. I didn't make this for Thanksgiving, because it's a new recipe that is still in development. It did turn out pretty well, so I'll go ahead and share with you. I'm sure there are still ways to improve it, but here is the first iteration of the recipe.

2 store bought pie crusts (Yeah, I cheated; get over it. You want to make the crust yourself, go ahead. I'm sure that would be better, but I had no idea how this would work the first time.)

Filling:
3 large Asian Pears
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (freshly ground or grated)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger


Peel the pears, the skin can be tough and bitter, overwhelming the subtle flavor of the pears. Quarter and core each pear, then cut it into thin slices (you can get as many as 40 slices out of a single large pear). Place the slices in a large bowl and coat with sugar and spices. Toss the pears with the sugar and spice. Allow the mixture to sit for about 30 minutes, tossing once.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Press one pie crust into the bottom of a 9-inch pie pan. Add sugar and spice coated pears to the pie pan, taking care to evenly distribute the pears. Cover with second crust and cut several vents to allow steam to escape.

Place pie pan on cookie sheet to catch any overflow and bake at 375° F for approximately 50 minutes, covering the edge of the crust with foil after about 15-20 minutes. After removing from the oven, allow the pie to rest for around 20 minutes before cutting.

I'll probably keep working on this and trying to improve it, but there it is for now. I hope that if any of you try it, you like it. If not: sorry.

(Sorry, no photo: I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture before we cut it, and I didn't cut it so much as multilate it.)

Until later...

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