10.02.2011

Vegan MOFO - Day 2

Day 2 - Bartletts and Frangipane
Better late than never! I may be two hours away from the official start of the third day of MOFO, but I have my reasons. Firstly, my parents were visiting me from Florida this weekend, and since I haven't seen them in nearly a year, their arrival took precedence. Secondly, Louisiana experienced it's first taste of the upcoming autumn weather! Can you believe that it is currently 58 degrees F right now?! I couldn't get over such a drastic change in the outdoor air - I spent the majority of my day sitting outside in the sun, soaking in the not-so-skin-melting breeze. This is our first taste of fall, and I'm so excited to start using the oven to bake bread, roast vegetables, and cook with heat. In honor of this refreshing weather, I wanted to make something warm and comforting, and baking seemed like the perfect medium. Following my theme - Food Named after People - I choose to feed two birds out of one hand (a much better idiom, don't you think?).
 

Bit o' History: The Williams' bon chretien pear, commonly referred to as the Williams or Bartlett pear in the US/Canada is the most widely grown pear variety in most countries outside of Asia. The cultivar was acquired by a nurseryman named Williams in the 18th-century, brought to the US in 1799 and planted on an estate of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Enoch Bartlett acquired these grounds and, unaware of their pears' origin, he named them after himself! Eventually folks figured out that the Williams and Bartlett pears were the same cultivar and everything was dandy.

Pear Frangipane Tart - Vegan Pie in the Sky
My efforts to try and capture the cooling weather were a success, thanks to the fabulous duo - Isa & Terry! These ladies have just finished a trilogy of dessert cookbooks with Vegan Pie in the Sky, and several recipes are available for preview on The PPK blog. I chose to make the Pear Frangipane Tart.

Bit o' History: Frangipane is the term used to describe an almond pastry filling (and tart), named for the 16th-century Marque Muzio Frangipani of the Frangipane ("Breadbreakers") Family. Their name is said to have come from the fact that an ancestor was noted for distributing bread to the poor during times of famine. Throughout the Middle Ages, this family was ranked highly among the Roman patrician and were chief adversaries to high ranking political families.

Pear Frangipane Tart (unbaked) - Vegan Pie in the Sky
Like Isa & Terry preface, this tart is very fancy!  I made the suggested Almond Crust - one of the easiest pie crust recipes ever - and only needed 2 large Bartletts. The frangipane bakes into a soft and moist blanket, keeping those sweet pears warm on these cool autumn months. I forgot the brush the top with apricot preserves at first, but spooned some on just before serving. This tart was amazing and so simple! I would eat Frangipane from a bowl with a spoon - it was that good!

Pear Frangipane Tart - Vegan Pie in the Sky

5 comments:

  1. I lovin' the food history, so interesting. And that tart...beautiful!!

    Enjoy those autumn breezes.

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  2. Great MoFo theme and great post :)
    Pie looks amazing, I made few days ago some kind of tatin trat but with pears and apples it was good but now I'm thinking about this kind of pie :)

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  3. This is great, I had no idea those recipes were up on the site.

    Thanks, :)

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  4. That looks gorgeous, I wish I had a slice of it right now!

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  5. Beautiful! I'm planning on making this tomorrow for a dinner party, hopefully it will look as good as yours!

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