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12/05/2001 Archived Entry: "Gingered Pear and Apricot Crisp"

Don’t laugh, cringe, or say this recipe is totally out of character for Arthur, the food maven, the guy who eats only fresh food and cooks from scratch. When you are cooking for a crowd and have a busy out-of-kitchen life, you need to take a few shortcuts. Canned fruit is one convenience product that I believe in.

Actually, I have to confess. I adore canned fruit. When I was a child, my mother would serve canned peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, and mixed fruit cocktail. This was the days before they were packed in light syrup or fruit juice. They came only in heavy syrup, which my mother rightfully deemed was too calorie-laden and not nutritious enough for her children to consume. She would drain the fruit before putting it into dessert bowls and put the syrup in a jar in the refrigerator. My father would then indulge in fruit sodas made with the syrup and the seltzer we had delivered in siphon bottles. (I am about to engage a seltzer man myself. Here in Brooklyn, there are still a couple of them trucking those old bottles door to door.)

A few years ago, I was introduced to sorbets made from frozen canned fruit. You do nothing more than freeze the whole can of fruit, then whip it up in the food processor. It doesn’t matter which kind of fruit. They all work. I was reminded of this last weekend when I discovered a can of pineapple lurking in my freezer in Connecticut. It must be in there a year. I suppose I should make pineapple sorbet this weekend. I could drizzle it with rum. Or, I could make a piña colada sorbet by adding some coconut cream to the mix. But I do digress …

Gingered Pear and Apricot Crisp

Serves at least 12

I had no idea this dessert was made with canned pears when I first ate it at a now long-gone and rather good restaurant in Great Barrington, Mass. I did know it was made by my friend Jeanne Lemlin, who has written a slew of vegetarian cookbooks, the latest of which is Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential Recipes for Every Course and Every Meal. At the time, Jeanne was earning some extra money by baking desserts for this restaurant. I was having a family get-together and I thought it would be the perfect homey supplement to the store-bought cakes and pastries I was serving. I called Jeanne for the recipe. She was only slightly embarrassed that it was not made with fresh pears. But she is a practical, hard-working woman and she pointed out that once the pears are tossed with dried apricots, and flavored with ginger and cinnamon, not to mention a good measure of butter, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between a canned pear and a fresh one. I had to agree. In addition, she pointed out, in her situation as a supplier to a restaurant, she was likely to be called any morning and asked to make another pan of pear crisp on a moment’s notice. It is nearly impossible to buy ripe pears when you need them, she reminded me. So canned pears solved that problem.

For the filling:
5 29-ounce cans pears in heavy syrup, drained very well (reserve syrup for another use -- a fruit salad, for instance, or pear sodas, like my father used to make)
1 1/4 cups dried apricots, snipped into strips with a scissors
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

For the topping:
1 cup flour
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon powdered ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons cold butter

Cut the pears in half lengthwise, then across in thirds, making each pear into 6 large chunks.

In an approximately 9 1/2 by 11 1/2- by 2 1/2-inch deep pan (or some equivalent volume pan), preferably one that can be put under the broiler if necessary, combine the filling ingredients and toss well to mix evenly.

Place the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until crumbly.

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit mixture then pat it down lightly.

Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for about 50 minutes. The juices will bubble and seethe after awhile. Don’t worry, they should. When done, the topping should be nicely browned. If it is not, don’t bake the crisp any longer. Place it briefly under the broiler.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Do I need to say that this great topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream?