Foodie Friday: Baked Rosemary-Lemon Pears Plus a Father's Day Surprise

Welcome to Foodie Friday!

 

 

 

I've spent the week playing with herbs and trying new recipes.

 

 

Rosemary-Lemon Pears

Serves: 5

 

5 pears -- peeled; leave stems.

1/3 cup fresh blueberries

3 vanilla beans

 

 Slice bottoms of pears to prevent them from falling over

while baking. Place pears in a deep baking pan.

Add blueberries.

Slice vanilla beans and scoop out beans. Set aside.

 

In a separate bowl, mix 16 ounces white wine (or cooking wine), zest from 2 lemons,

pinch of salt, dash of cinnamon, 2 cups light brown sugar, vanilla beans, 1/4 cup honey.

Mix. Add 1/4 cup almonds, 3 bay leaves, and a handful of chopped, fresh rosemary.

Pour over pears.

Cut lemons into quarters and place around pears in pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes.

Remove pears from oven. Using a slotted spoon,

remove pears from pan and place in the refrigerator.

Put pan with drippings onto the cooktop and reduce

over a low flame for an hour, stirring now and then.

When you are ready to serve the pears,

remove from fridge and spoon sauce over the pears. Garnish

with rosemary and almonds, if desired.

 

My husband truly loved these pears.

I raided my herb garden this week and made all kinds of
salts and rubs. The lemon-thyme seasoning salt was so aromatic,
my house smelled like Williams-Sonoma. It's great on food, too!

Click HERE for the recipe.

 



"If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.” ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

 



As many of you know, I have a little herb garden at Rattlebridge.

If it hadn't been for this garden, I don't think Will would

have agreed to buy the house. Though he's a country doctor,

he's a farmer at heart. He couldn't resist the blooming lavender.

 

The other day we were gathering rosemary for the pear recipe, and Will said

he wished he had a vegetable garden. "You can plant tomatoes with the herbs," I said.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's too pretty of a garden. But someday,

I'll have a vegetable garden."

 

“The Secret Garden was what Mary called it when she was thinking of it. She liked the name, and she liked still more the feeling that when its beautiful old walls shut her in no one knew where she was. It seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place. The few books she had read and liked had been fairy-story books, and she had read of secret gardens in some of the stories. Sometimes people went to sleep in them for a hundred years, which she had thought must be rather stupid. She had no intention of going to sleep, and, in fact, she was becoming wider awake every day which passed at Misselthwaite.”

 

 ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

 

 

 

I decided to make Will a small vegetable garden for Father's Day, but I didn't have much time. So Medana and I put our heads together.  My plan was to install the garden but leave the "squares"

bare. That way, Will could plant what he wanted.

Bandwidth and I decided that we would present the garden-to-be on Father's Day.

 

But Will discovered it on his own. He never goes to Rattlebridge alone, but I have

been feeling poorly for a few days--so pokey and slow that I bought a bottle of Geritol, what my grandmother used to take. Anyway, Will stopped by the house and discovered the secret garden.

 

Photo Credit: Medana H.

 

He immediately called me.

"It's the best Father's Day present, ever," he said.

 

 

Photo Credit: Medana H.

Will is trying to decide what to plant. It's a bit late in the season,

but he'll find something.

 

 

 



 

Our Foodie Friday "Pick of the Week" is Debbie at Mountain Breaths. She embellished

a store-bought cake with edible butterflies and presented it on a Mackenzie Childs' pedestal platter.

Just beautiful!

 

To read about this cake, visit Debbie at Mountain Breaths.

 



 

 

Thanks to all of the great cooks who participate each week. I look at each post to make sure it is working, and it is always such a treat to see what you've been cooking. I'd like to invite you to add your recipes to the "Consuming Passions" group board at Pinterest, which can be found HERE.

It is a small, private group, but Foodie Friday folks are welcome. If you'd like to "pin" with us and chat about food, just leave a comment on one of the "pins," and I will send you an invitation. Or you can email me.

 

To participate in Foodie Friday, locate the blue Inlinkz icon and follow the directions. The red "x"
will allow you to delete your link if you made an error; the "x" is visible to you only.

For a complete guide to this linky party, click HERE. If you have still have questions, click HERE
for a detailed Foodie Friday tutorial.

** By adding your link to Foodie Friday, you are granting us permission

to include a photo of your FF recipe (and a link to your blog post)

in the "Picks of the Week" feature or on our Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest pages.

 

I would like to ask pretty please if Pinners will "pin" photos of the "Picks" and all FF contributions from the source blogs, not from Foodie Friday. 

 

Thanks so much for visiting  today. I am always inspired by your recipes--and by you. Food blogging is more difficult than any kind because of the sheer work that goes on behind the scenes--planning, shopping, prep work, cooking, taking photographs, culling those photos, and cleaning.  I am amazed by your ideas and creativity.
 

 

Have a great, food-filled weekend.

Love,

Mlee