Saturday, October 14, 2006

Flaky pie with chocolate and mini pears

Is pie the first thing come to your mind when I ask you your favorite Amercian food? I wasn't surprised when someone told me there's a pie in Asia actually called Amercian Pie. I do like Amercian pies, especially those with flaky crust. To accomplish an ideal flakyness requires a lot of practice, so the saying easy as pie is not always true :P But please don't let the first few not-so-perfect crusts let you down, everyone of us has gone through this phase and now, I'm not shy to tell you I expecting oooh-ahhhhing from my family and friends every time they taste my flaky pie :D For the fillings (chocolate + poached pears) I don't think they're popular in my area, but since I've seen many Italians always pairing these two together, so I gave it a try.

The pie crust recipe is from Gale Gand's, and hers is very well written.

To make the pie crust:
  1. halve the Perfect Pie Crust
  2. Follow her directions, except I used a 10" x 6.5" pan (17x26cm)
  3. Make the leaves from the left-over dough, place them in a separate tray. You can bake them at the same time with the pie crust, but they don't take long to brown.
  4. In the last five minutes of baking time, I egg washed the whole pie. Send it back to oven to complete baking.
  5. Once the crust and the leaves are done, place them on a rack to cool. Set aside.

To make the chocolate filling:

  1. You'll need: 100g semi-sweet chocolate (finely chopped), 2 table spoons butter, 2 egg yolks, 2 egg whites, 2 tablespoons powder sugar
  2. Melt the chocolate over a double-boiler, add in butter. Once combine, mix in the yolks until well blended.
  3. Remove the chocolate mixture away from the boiler, add in the whites and powder sugar, stir to cooperate.
  4. Immediate pour the chocolate mixture into the pie crust, let it cool in a room temperature. You can keep it in fridge for later use.

To poach the pears:
  1. I peeled 4 mini pears (I think they're Seckel Pear (?)) they're about the size of a walnut.
  2. In a pot, combine half bottle of sparkling white wine, a cup of sugar, some lemon zest, a cinnamon stick, and bring to boil. Taste, and add water if necessary
  3. Submerge the pears in the liquid, simmer until the pear tender but not mushy. But I like mine pretty firm, so it took less than 5 minutes.
  4. Transfer the pears on a cutting board and let cool. I halved them and took out as many seeds as I could. But if you're not going to serve the pie right away, you can chill the pears in the poached liquid.
  5. Only arrange the poached pears (and the leaves) on the pie right before you serve.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

YUM YUM, YUM gattina, Your photographs are delicious ,fabulous & drool worthy.

Anonymous said...

Oh my! Vow!

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm... the sight of those pears swimming in gooey chocolate...

And those pretty maple leaf pastry...

Stunning!

LittleHands said...

Gattina, it looks so unique and interesting and yummilicious. Yummy Yum Yum!

LittleHands said...

Gattina, it looks so unique and interesting and yummilicious. Yummy Yum Yum!

Gattina Cheung said...

Lera, actally that day I almost gave up taking pictures as beside of the sun hiding away, it also draped down a "black sheet"...

Burcu, thank you :D

Mae, I do like the chocolate very much, and that little leaves are good munckin' :D

Anonymous said...

Wonderful! I really like it!
Ciao.

Anonymous said...

hi gattina,
how do you do it every time??
so incredibly delicious and stunning...amazing!
this cake is without a doubt now one my favourite American food (together with pancakes of course... ;) )
can't wait for the next one...=)

Anonymous said...

That looks so decadent! Pears and Chocolate, in a flaky crust...yum, I love the leaves, it adds such a feeling of fall foliage, looks great!

Anonymous said...

real eye candy.chocolate is enough for me..teh maple leaf is so reminiscent of fall.. u didn't say whether u liked the taste of the combination or or not.

Anonymous said...

Super Duper!!! Chocolate and pears I feel are often over looked and they are so good together.

Unknown said...

What else can I say? Your pies/tarts turn out perfect each time :)

Shruti said...

wao!!!
cant control of having one bite of this..
yummyyyyyyyyyyyyyy......

Edith said...

I am just about to take my dinner till I see this!!!!!!!!!!!! I want I want please.

Anonymous said...

this pie likes grredy but leafs are wonderful

Gattina Cheung said...

Orchidea, thank you1

Julia, my most favorite food in here is hotdog!

Monisha, thanks for your compliement. Fall is really very beauitful in my area!

Shaheen, the chocolate and poached pears are very delicious on their own. That day I first tasted them together, I didn't register anything (as my mind totally single-tracked by pear+spice combo which I always do). Today I made pear chocolate cupcakes and found they're pretty good. Maybe it just take me more time to adjust, or it goes better with cake?!...

Peabody, thank you! I'll keep trying... I'm too used to pear + spice, I think a change is nice.

Angie, thanks for your encouragement... should I deserve a "whole" loaf of focaccia, hehee...

Shruti, oh thank you so much!

Edith, thanks for your kind words too!

Fracesca, my family like to eat the crunchy leaves first :D

FH said...

Fabulous pics!! Droolomatic!!:))

Nabeela said...

oh WOW!!! I LOVE how flaky your crust looks!! Muat have been delicious!!

krista said...

Yummy.....very nice!

Anonymous said...

Hi Gattina,

I absolutely love your blog! I tried to add it to my feedreader but it says that you don't publish a feed?

Not sure if you're interested in setting one up, but if so, you can set one up easily using feedburner (http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/help/blogger_quickstart), that way people who subscribe to your feed can find out straight away when you publish a new entry? Just a thought :)

Anonymous said...

Look at that chocolate filling! Gattina, you're a genius!

Brilynn said...

This really does look like a perfect pie crust, well done!

Gattina Cheung said...

Asha, you're always so sweet!

Sher, I like pear a lot, more than apple!

Nabeela, thank you :D

Krista, thanks too!

Ellie, thank you so much for pointing out the problem. I think it's must be sth I did at the setting, will go look at it later. And thanks for the link and suggestion, I'll do it too :D

Ivonne, *blush* I'm not genius, hehe... but this chocolate is very delicious, I surely make it often.

Brilynn, thank you! Yes, this crust is very yummy.

Jolene (little hand)...*smacking my forehand* I missed my reply last time, how could I!!! Always thanks for your encouragement!

Anonymous said...

Well, i admit that i am boring, i donot have anything other than my usual words. Incredible,fantastic, super dashing good !!!! As usual. Loved the way you weaved the edges and ofocurse the leaves too.

Lis said...

You never cease to amaze me.. I always look forward to clicking on your blog in anticipation of another beautiful and delicious dish!

You did not disappoint me today! Wow.. it's just gorgeous! And I am one of those who never thinks of pears and chocolate.. how delish :D

Beautiful pie.. wish I had some in front of me right this instant! :D