✯ Day 250 of Vintage 365 ✯
With each passing September day we're nearing ever close to a new season, to summer's retirement, and to the especially lovely harvest that this season brings forth. For the moment though, hanging out on the seventh day of the month, a new school year just starting to get under way, there's still a summery note in the air.
The two seasons are charging head on, meshing up for a few short weeks in a burst of golden light and temperatures that still permit open-toed shoes and stocking-less legs. During this brief window we have the luxury of picking foods from both seasonal camps. Tart, energizing summer flavours and mellow, hearty autumn ingredients.
Today's vintage recipe for Citrus Pear Pie has a soft of contemporary fusion to its name that belies the fact that its decades old. Though one might not think of pears and lemons as making the best culinary bedfellows, when you stop and reflect on the fact that most apple pies include at least a squeeze of lemon, the combination really isn't that bizarre.
{Click here for a larger version of this delightful vintage Citrus Pear Pie recipe. Image by way of Eudaemonius on Flickc.}
Calling for a just small handful of easy to come by ingredients, this pie is a snap to put together. There are many, many fantastic varieties of pears on the market these days (even most smaller sized grocery stores stock at least four or five come September), however I'm particularly fond of using Bosc and red Italian pears for baked desserts.
Boscs generally hold up extremely well, even under long cooking times, and red Italian pears are often beautifully sweet and juicy, which would make them a good counterpoint to the zesty lemon in this yesteryear recipe.
Pears are my second favourite fruit of all time (with raspberries edging them out ever-so-slightly), and come their relatively short peak season, I cook with them like mad. Using them to use in everything from pork loin dishes to bread puddings, spice muffins to other baked treats like this week's yummy sounding Citrus Pear Pie.
After all, before we can say “vintage dessert”, these last few days of summer will be over and the magical between-the-seasons period just a pleasant memory. We’ve got to nab our most beloved seasonal produce while it’s still on the shelves and whisk it quickly to our tables! 
I have never been much of a pear fan- they get mushy quickly in a lunch box and sometimes the skin can have an odd texture. But your words make them sound like a gift from the Gds! So much so that I might have to try this pie.
ReplyDeleteThanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife