Recipe: Savory Pear Pastries

Recipe Source: Barron, Rosemary.  Meze: Small Bites, Big Flavors.  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2002 pp. 96-7

These are the result of more Sunday open house fun.  I was really drawing a blank on vegetable dishes when I was doing my planning.  I was just feeling so incredibly uninspired.  Then it hit me.  Why not do something savory with a fruit?  After all, fruits and vegetables are lumped together in the food groups, right?  I found this recipe and decided to run with it.

I did have to make a few changes.  First of all, these were intended to be pies, not pocket pastries.  I just didn't feel like screwing around with the chickpea flour pastry.  I was very tired and very, very achy and needed to minimize time on my feet.  Phyllo dough was suggested by the author, but the whole pocket thing was all me.  Second, I didn't have enough time to let the fruit macerate as long as required.  It was supposed to sit for four hours or overnight; it got two hours.  Finally, I omitted a lot of additions toward the end, like the additional honey, the olive oil, the vinegar and the egg yolk.  I was nervous that they would make the filling even soggier than it was. 

The results were decent.  The flavor was pretty decent, if I do say so myself, but the filling was pretty moist and that left the filling soggy.  It's okay if you would rather use butter than olive oil to brush the phyllo.  I normally would too - it makes for a richer-tasting pastry.  This time, though, one of my guests had a dairy allergy and so I used olive oil. 

Savory Pear Pastries (serves 6; approx. $0.31/serving)

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons honey

2 firm, ripe pears, peeled, cored and diced

4 bay leaves

1/4 package phyllo pastry, thawed (use a phyllo labeled "#7".  You'll find it easier to work with than the more common, thinner phyllo.) 

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 tablespoon savory

Pinch of kosher salt

Olive oil for brushing

Equipment:

• Bowl
• Pastry brush
• Baking sheets
• Pizza cutter
• Time

1. Combine the vinegar, honey, bay leaves and pear bits in the bowl.  Let sit at least two hours before proceeding.  Four hours is better, overnight is best.
2. Stir the walnuts, savory and salt into the filling.  Mix well. 
3. Use the pizza cutter to cut out large rectangles of dough from the phyllo pile. 
4. Brush one rectangle with olive oil.
5. Immediately place another rectangle on top of it.  Brush with more oil.
6. Place about 1/6 of the filling in the middle of the dough. 
7. Fold the edges of the dough onto the filling to create a nice, roughly square-shaped pocket.  If the dough is a little on the dry side, you may need to use some water to encourage the edges to stick. 
8. Transfer - carefully - to a baking sheet, seam side down. 
9. Repeat until all of the filling is used.
10. Bake 20 minutes or until golden.
11. Remove from the oven and serve. 

Comments

[Mrs. L]

I like the sound of these even if they did come out a bit soggy. Might have to give the recipe a try, thanks!