Italy - First Post of Many to Come! Pear Torte

The driving force behind my trip to Italy was to take cooking lessons so the fact that the weather was terrible on two of the side-trip days didn't bother me much. And really, after you've seen five castles and cathedrals, they all start to look the same! 

This is from the first class. It is a pear, ricotta, and pecorino pie in a puff pastry shell. Nutmeg and pine nuts give it a little extra interest.

Torta Salata con Formaggio and Pere

4 or 5 pears
1 puff pastry circle, thawed
1 egg
3/4 - 1 cup ricotta cheese
5 oz pecorino romano
Couple grinds of nutmeg
Dash of salt
Handful of pine nuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and cut pears into 1 inch-ish chunks. Cut up pecorino to a similar size. 
Add ricotta, egg, nutmeg, salt, and pine nuts, then stir.

Place dough (on parchment) into pan and prick the bottom with a fork. 

Fill with pear mixture and fold edges of pastry over the top.

Cut parchment from around the pan.

Bake for 45 - 50 minutes until inside is firm and pastry is brown.

Tip: This can also be made as a savory pie by substituting the pears with zucchini.

Figs, figs, figs, figs ...

I LOVE FIGS!

I stumbled on this by way of Chowhound. It's in the oven now and smells fantastic!

Copyright 2006 by Cooking With The Single Guy

http://singleguychef.blogspot.com/2006/10/figs-with-puff-pastry.html

Update: August 2012. This is heavenly. I just made it again this year and it was as wonderful as I remembered.