Torta di pere

Hrm - I'm late on my own event, as usual. :(
Well, sorry everybody, and this also means that whoever still wants to publish a recipe focused on pears, they can still submit their entry for this month 'Fresh Produce of the Month' event! I think I'll have time to put together the roundup this coming weekend.
So, here is my own entry: it's a pear cake that I made for the first time a few years ago, with a recipe given by my aunt Mariarosa. It's a very healthy cake, that contains no butter at all. I love it, and it's perfect for this season! The recipe was sent electronically to me by my mom, whom I thank very much. I'll copy down here her version, which accounts for an Italian translation. However, if you can read Italian, you'll realize what really this recipe is: just a theme over which one can improvise.. the oven temperature is not told, nor is the baking time.. and considering I don't have a scale, the weight of the pears I used was not controlled either. The English version that I'm writing down is more precise - however, don't be too worried. It works most likely with many other combinations. :) For example, I actually used nutmeg instead of cinnamon powder. I liked the substitution, although my mom thought it was a crazy idea, when I told her. :)

As a final note: I served this cake with a scoop of ice cream. The first night it was vanilla ice cream. The second night there were two slices left. My friend Anders and I made a rum and raisin ice cream which was just amazingly good with this cake. :) - I'll give the ice cream recipe in another post.

Torta di pere di zia Mariarosa / Aunt Mariarosa's pear cake

Ingredients
1+1/4 cup of flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 pounds pears (long and hard)
1 egg + 1 yolk
2 tsp baking powder
grated zest of half a lemon
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp salt

Procedure:
Beat 1/2 cup sugar with the eggs. Add lemon zest, milk, and slowly, the flour previously mixed with baking powder and salt. Pour the dough in a baking pan.
On top, add the pears, cut in thin long slices. Don't worry: it will look like you have a humongous amount of pears on top. That's how it's supposed to be. On top, add the rest of the sugar mixed with cinnamon powder. Bake at 350C for ~45 min.



Versione Italiana:
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150 gr farina
200g zucchero
mezzo bicchiere di latte
1 kg pere (lunghe e dure, tipo Kaiser)
1 uovo intero + 1 tuorlo
1 bustina lievito
buccia grattugiata di mezzo limone
2 cucchiaini di cannella in polvere
1 pizzico di sale

Sbattere 100 gr di zucchero con uova e buccia di limone, aggingere il latte e poi unire poco per volta la farina mescolata con il lievito e il sale .
Stendere la pasta in una teglia (meglio se rettangolare), disporre sopra le pere (meglio se non sbucciate e tagliate a fettine verticali): cospargere il tutto con 100 gr di zucchero mescolato con la cannella.
Infornare a fuoco moderato (non so per quanto, vedi tu). **Direi circa 180C, per circa 45 min** (commento dell'editrice :) )
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