Red wine braised D'Anjou pears

They also go by poached pears.
I was eyeing with this dessert for some time, but postponed making it for ..  well, actually no reason.
Yesterday we had some great friends visiting, and this pear seemed to be the one to be worth making it to our table..
My friend is the best cook I know and she goes to the moon and back when we visit, so it's always a bit of excitment  to cook for her.
I feel the challenge, cook something Hungarian, but also special, and with not so much cream and sour cream, which by itself is a challenge, as we put a dash of paprika and sour cream in EVERYTHING!
For this occasion my choice fell to goulash, as the main course, and I thought of making some ile flottante, but she makes a lot of cream englese, so I decided to go with the pears, which I never tried before.. But I'm so glad I did!
They were pretty well received by everybody, which was such a great feeling!
I trullyrecommend this dish for the "colder" autumn days due to its "cozy" flavors of cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla.
Enjoy warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
My family was asking for them the next day for breakfast, and lunch, and.. I even had to listen to my youngest's complains: "Now I know mon what we don't have for everyday meals: desserts!"
Spoiled bastards!!! :D Home cooked lunch and dinner almos every day is not enough..there still should be dessert..
Maybe they are right... we will see, but for now, here is the recipe for the peard

Ingredients
6-8 D'Anjoy pears depending on size
1 bottle of fruity wine, I used Smokin Loom's Cabernet Sauvignon
10 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks of 1 flat tsp minced cinnamon
1 vanilla bean cut in half leghtwise 
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 - 2 cups water (350-500 ml), eough to almost cover the pears

I chose to leave the pears as is. You can peel and core them. I would probably core them next time to let the flesh soak in some color, plus it also helps with the boiling time, eg shortens it, but they were good as is.
Place the pears to the bottom of a deeper pot, enough to hold the "standing" pears plus 2".
Pour the wine, water and sugar over the pears, throw in the spices and cover the pot with a lid.
On low heat simmer them for about 20 minutes if cored, and 30 if unpealed, whole.
Poke something sharp in them, and if it slices into the fruit's flesh with some, but not too much resistanve, they are done. If the inner parts of the pear still feel "crunchy", simmer for 5-10 more minutes.
Remove the pears and let them cool (preferably covered with foil).
Place the liquid back to the stove and conitnue to simmer for an additional 20-30 minutes, until the wine-sugar-water mixture will be reduced to half.
Serve while still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Choose a mild ice cream, not too sweat, it goes better with the taste.

Bon appétit!

Chanterelle mushroom stew

One of my favorite mushrooms is the chantarelle mushroom. Oh my.. Part of the fun is of course picking them, and we did for so many years in Finland's beautiful forests about this time of the year, however now we have to live with what we get in a Costco down here in Southern California.

On top of its deliciousness it's also very easy to prepare, and requires very few ingredients, as most of the finnish recipes have mild flavoring.
Head to Costco this weekend and surprise the family with something different.

Ingredients
1 pound, (450-500g) chantarelle mushrooms
1 large onion
4 tbsp oil
2 garlic heads
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp flour (optional, I don't necessarily like the thick sauce, so I leave it most of the time out)
approximtely 1 cup (200 ml) half/half 
salt to taste
pinch of black pepper

Clean and cut the mushrooms in desired sizes. My advise is not to chop them too small. They look and taste better in larger, crunchier bits.
Chop the onion in small cubes, and saute in the 4 tbsp of oil until golden in color and transparent.
Add the mushroom, salt to taste, start with 1/2 tsp, and the pinch of salt, and let is saute for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile in a small skillet heat the butter, and add the garlic heads (cleaned and smashed, to release the taste). Fry until a bit golden and released the lovely garlic flavor, add the flour, let it fry just a bit, like 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Pour the half-half in the butter-garlic-flour mixture, and stirr until you get that creamy, smooth texture.
Transfer the half-half mix to the mushroom, taste, and adjust saltiness as desired and simmer at very low heat for an additional 2 minutes.
Cover, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Serve with boiled potato wedges, or your preferred rice.

Bon appétit!

OBS. If yiu serve it with potato wedges boiled in their skin without salt, you'll need to add some extra salt in the mushroom stew.