New things with old stuff.

An undisclosed friend of ours in an undisclosed location received a still for his birthday from another friend of his, whom we don't know (but beLIEVE me, we are angling for an introduction!), and whipped up a batch of grappa as his first experiment. Matt and Andrew, who was still with us at the time, LOVED the 375 ml bottle of it that we were given. I still have my reservations about it. I think it smells like grape-turpentine and tastes like grape-nail polish remover*. There's about half that bottle left, at the moment.**

But then I carted home a fruit bowl's worth of "not-perfect" pears from work, googled pear recipes and found this. Move over, rum-cake! (Text below, in small, in case the link dies.)

It smells HEAVENLY in this house right now. I cannot WAIT until after dinner (chicken pot-pie at Matthew and Sarah's) to see how it tastes!

(And, yes, there will be an update to let y'all know!)


UPDATE: Yeah, it was awesome.





*Not that I know what that TASTES like, but...
**Even with the cake in the oven!



For pear cake:
1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon grappa
1 firm-ripe Bose pears
1/2 cup raisins or chopped pitted prunes
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted lightly and cooled

For grappa sauce:
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon grappa
Preparation
Make pear cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F and lightly butter and flour an 8 1/2-inch springform pan, knocking out excess flour.

In a bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and 1 1/4 cups sugar until light and fluffy and beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture and milk alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating until just combined after each addition, and stir in grappa. Peel and core pears and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Fold pears int batter with raisins or prunes and pine nuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan and sprinkle top with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake cake in middle of oven until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack and remove side of pan.

Make grappa sauce:
In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together eggs, sugar, and cinnamon until thick and pale. In a metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water melt butter and stir in egg mixture. Cook sauce, stirring constantly, until thickened and it registers 165°F on a candy thermometer, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from pan and stir in cream and grappa.

Serve cake with warm sauce.