Ginger pears (vegan)

For this I used mostly d'anjou and some red scarlet pears.

 As promised I am going to let you know what I choose to put up and when so you can see what goes into my pantry/larder.

I think that ginger is one of those things that rings freshness through the nose.  You FEEL it's flavor.  Like hot peppers, it is a bit of a physically undeniable experience that extends the tasting to a perfume.
I feel Ginger harkens excitement, awakening and makes things happier.  I once hated it and now am confused at how I could have possibly.

I am a big pear fan.  I feel like if I had a friend I'd want them to be an apple - a little more durable and robust, but a pear is a lover.  It takes a little more finesse and you must treat them nicer.  So isn't it lovely that pears have a very long season (variety to variety).  This means that they can get nabbed locally (for me) for a lot of months.  This makes me feel contented until their prices go up... then less so.  So preserving them is a good thing while they are cheap.  Cheap, FRESH, seasonal and local.

I looked through the giant catalog styled books of canning and found not a jot interesting enough to try out on the pears (other than pear butters, which require a lot more pears than I was willing to sacrifice).  So feeling a bit like Imelda Marcos needing a pair of sturdy hiking boots I went all internet on it and still came up short.  In which case the result is *&@% it, add cardamom and ginger - bang. Done.

I use Jelly jars for this recipe because it is potent and I can't imagine eating a lot in one sitting.  If you have a big family then Quarts may be the way to go.

You will need approximately 1 pear for every half pint (the little jelly jars) you use.  The yield depends on how packed you can get the jars with pear pieces.  It averages 10 half pints per this recipe of liquid it you jam them babies up well (making sure to leave just enough room to have the lids seat properly).  I got 20 jars from 18 pears and did the recipe below twice for that same amount.

5 - 6 Cups water
2 1/2 Cups vegan sugar - this is considered a "light syrup" I feel "light" is by old standards and seems really sweet to me.
8-10 cardamom pods
2 -3 twigs of cinnamon (I used real cinnamon not cassia bark... Ceylon/real cinnamon is lovely, delicate and smooth,  cassia is potent so you can use a lot less of it for this.  1 twig or 1 heaping tsp of cassia cinnamon.  If you don't know if your powder is cassia and you are in the US, chances are it is, if it says Ceylon then you know it isn't.  If it doesn't state this implicitly then it is cassia.)
3/4 inch knuckle of ginger root grated (This is plenty to bring the feeling and taste of ginger without a lot of nose heat, if you'd like more do it up.)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 lemon's zest

Bring water to a simmer - light boil, add sugar and whisk gently to blend into dissolving. Once dissolved add spices, zest and ginger. While liquid simmers and steeps peel and core fruit and slice into chunks and coat with a touch of lemon juice to keep them from browning.
In your clean jars add a 1 tsp lemon juice this will insure your fruit has enough acidity to preserve.
pack well with pear pieces.
Strain your very hot liquid through a sieve and fill jars with syrup leaving 1/4-1/2 inch room.
Lid and finger tighten then place into water bath's boil water.

I pre-warm my oven to 150-200
I have the jars rumble boil in the bath for at least 12 minutes then move the hot jars to a lightly warm oven 150-200 for 5 minutes... then move the jars to room temp until they cool.  This will help them cool down SLOWLY.  You'll hear the jars doing "things" and making sounds for the next hour and that is the jars sealing themselves into that vacuum to keep things tasty and pure for you.

Process your water bath as you normally do.  If you don't normally do this then I recommend you grab a book on the subject to fully understand it as food preservation is pretty crucial to get correct.  The rule is that you hear a "voop" sound when you open the jar to eat.  It not... that jar of stuff can make you dead sick, or just dead.

Pack your jars well so when the jar is sealed and the fruit floats there isn't a lot of room that is just syrup.

Serve these as a dessert alone or over ice cream, whipped cream, vanilla breads of a variety of sorts or a rich deep almost bitter chocolate thing.

I'm blowing your mind, I know.
...crickets...

Pizza Update

So you may have glanced at the cast iron skillet pizza and thought "I am never going to make that."  Well jerk, you're missing out.  And if you've made it, BRAVO! Was it tasty?  What did you put on it?  Wasn't it simple and now you're a master?  I knew you could do it.  For the skeptics I'm including favorite toppings as encouragement and a reward to those who ventured to make their own pizza.

When I am making a pizza with meat I don't use more than a 1/3 Cup to 1/2 Cup ground meat.  This way a pound of meat will go very far in feeding the family.  1 pound can make several pizzas and multiple meals. Neither of the recipes below have meat nor depend on meat for flavor, and yet they remain favored by the man of the house as well.

For sauce I have done loads of variations.  I have stewed fresh tomatoes, home canned tomatoes, brand canned tomatoes and have found no matter the masterpiece, the sauce gets lost in the toppings. So in the end I've concluded that the best red sauce is straight tomato puree (not paste, as it's boiled down and becomes more saturated in excitotoxins).  I know, right?  Any ingredients (herbs, garlic, etc.) can be added directly to the pizza before the toppings stage for the same tasty effect.   Had I known this before, I could have saved myself probably a thousand hours spent perfecting sauces that would have fared better over fresh pasta than to be baked under veg and cheese.

My favorite thing is to clean out the fridge into pizza toppings.  It sounds worse than it is.  I don't use moldy potato salads... I just go through the crisper drawer and use whatever may have lost its crispness.

I do a sauce layer, a green layer, and a veggie layer, fruit layer and top with onions (I do the onions last so they cook nicely, they have a way of remaining somewhat raw when hidden in layers).

Don't be afraid to experiment and use your imagination on the sauce.   It can be honey and olive oil with curry powder, or tomato puree, roasted garlic spread, a jerk sauce, blended vegetables or just a red pepper and wine sauce.  Every kind gives you the option to showcase a masterpiece of toppings.

I usually prefer making both a very spicy pizza and a very savory pizza. When I use pear I like Goat cheese, when I use Jalapeno I like apple pieces.  These are all things you'll discover through your adventure trials.  The following are some favorites.

The order of things: crust -> sauce layer -> veggie layer -> fruit layer-> (optional cheese) -> onion and garnish on the top

Cherry bomb vegan:

• just enough tomato to cover the crust  I used a small gravy ladle to scoup 2-4 scoops of sauce on, too thick and the crust will be soggy towards the upper layer.(sauce layer)
• a handful of diced kale, or cilantro (greens/herbs layer)
• 1-2 cherry bomb peppers diced including the seeds
• 1 pinch dried peppers (jalapeno, morita, serrano, banana, ancho, pasilla, poblano, cayenne any of these) and their seeds.
• 1/2 small yam or sweet potato sliced thinly and diced again {or pulse in processor} (veggie layer)
• 1/2 -1 whole apple peeled, cored and diced (fruit layer)
• some ground pepper
• pinch of salt
• slices of onions scattered on top with some parsley sprinkled about.

If your pizza has reached a critical level of heat on the spicy index of hot then you can tame it back with some extra apple, some honey, agave or cheese.  Sweet and dairy help lower spicy heat.

Savory Pear and goat cheese:

• just enough tomato to cover the crust  I used a small gravy ladle to scoop 2-4 scoops of sauce on, too thick and the crust will be soggy towards the upper layer.(sauce layer)
• a handful of diced fresh parsley with or without a handful of fresh basil (herbs/greens layer)
• some ground pepper
• pinch of salt
• slices of red, orange or yellow peppers (these are sweeter than green - veggie layer)
• 1/2-1 whole pear, peeled, cored and sliced (fruit layer)
• 1-2 heaping TBSP goat cheese crumbled on top (cheese layer)
• slices of onions scattered on top with whatever garnish you'd like like fresh thyme, sage or oregano

There aren't strict rules to pizza.  You can do it without a sauce.  I would lower the cooking time and adjust accordingly.  You can roast a pile of root vegetables with maple syrup at the end and toss and cover the crust in that.  It is open season on creating your signature pie!