pear apple crisp

this is comfort food at its finest.  it's warm, beautifully scented, and uses fruits associated with fall.  but i don't let that stop me from throwin' on some ice cream.  it's not overly complicated, just a little time consuming with the peeling and preparing of the fruit.  it takes about 15 minutes to prep once you gather all of the ingredients and another 50 minutes to bake, so i prep it before dinner then pop it in the oven to bake while we're eating.  it's supposed to serve eight, you just have to consider how you're going to serve it - one large casserole dish or separate ramekins.  i opt for the casserole style so i can scoop some out into large bowls that have room for the ice cream.  this recipe is from the barefoot contessa's "at home" cookbook.  the photo's from the web (not only can i not cook, i can't photograph either)

• 2 pounds ripe bosc pears (4 pears)
• 2 pounds firm Macoun apples (6 apples)
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 2 tbls freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 tbls freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

for the topping

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1/2 lb (2 sticks) butter, diced

preheat the oven to 350 degrees

peel and core the pears and apples and cut them into large chunks.  place the fruit in a large bowl and toss with the cranberries, zests, juices, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  pour into a 9 x 12 x 2 inch baking dish.

for the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixed fitted with a paddle attachment.  mix on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the mixture is in large crumbles.  sprinkle evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.

place the baking dish on a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the fruit is bubbly.  serve warm.

okay.  i didn't do all of this.  first off, i used whatever apples and pears i had.  i don't know their names, it's just what i grabbed at the store.  i am just realizing as i'm writing this post that i didn't even see the sugar and flour that you're supposed to mix in with the fruit.  i didn't have cranberries so i used pomegranates.  i didn't have an orange.  i grabbed a lemon that was already cut open and just squeezed some into the bowl over the fruit.  and zesting?  forget about it.  i couldn't very well zest an orange i didn't have and i can't zest a lemon that's already been cut open.  i didn't have old-fashioned oats, just the 1-minute quick cooking kind.  it seems i left out more ingredients than i put in but this turned out great!  since there's just the two of us i cut the recipe in half.  i used a small 2 quart casserole dish and piled the fruit in thick and ended up using only half of the topping i made because there was a smaller surface area to cover.  the cooking temp and time of 50 minutes was perfect.  i only have a hand mixer but didn't want to use it as i didn't want to cream the topping mixture together.  i just used an old fashioned pastry cutter which gave great results.  p.s. on another episode of a different recipe ina says you can use the hand mixer with just one of the beaters.  genius.

overall, i found this recipe very delicious, albeit now completely unrecognizable.  it seems it's very forgiving.  imagine how good it would be if i had actually followed the recipe and included all of the ingredients!  it will make a great presentation for company.

here's the link to ina's video at foodnetwork.com    http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/pear-apple-cranberry-crisp/61941.html  you'll notice she uses ramekins in the video.