Favorite Things #1

There are things that I just keep making over and over again.  They taste THAT good, and are THAT easy, really easy to make.  Of course, like with any other piece of food that you put in your mouth - it all depends on the ingredients.    
My go-to roast chicken is based on the one that I read about in Thomas Keller's cook book, "Bouchon".   The method for roasting this chicken wasn't even in the recipe section - instead it was explained in Keller's introduction to the book as an example of how he likes to cook.  This patted dry chicken, goes into a very hot oven and roasts quickly.  The skin immediately separates from the flesh allowing it to crisp up nicely and the meat to be lubricated by the gushing fat.  Keller adds thyme, I don't.  Keller likes to serve the just-out-of-the-oven bird with butter and Dijon mustard.  It's delicious that way - but gilding the lily a bit.  I try to resist.  I always roast in the chickeen in a cast iron skillet - it holds the heat very well.  I think this method is just about the only way to roast a chicken. 

I've loved pomegranate seeds for years.  I used to eat them for desseert when I lived in Italy.  At  ristoranti and trattorie they would be served in a glass coppa  with orange juice or red wine.   I was pleased when fresh pomegranates started to have a following in the USA and they could be found during the months of November and December in certain upscale markets. By now they are ubiquitous and their season has been prolonged.  To this day I can still find fresh pomegranates at my local Shoprite supermarket.  God only knows where they come from - they're not local, that's for sure.  But every now and then exceptions must be made.    I love fresh pomegranate seeds with my morning oatmeal.  Also added to the oatmeal; top quality butter, a splash of maple syrup and ground cinnamon.  What a way to start the day.

Remember those poached pears from my last posting.  Remember how I said be sure to make extras because they can hang around the fridge for at least a week.  Oh boy - was I ever grateful to have a couple of pears still sitting in their poaching liquid last Friday when my sweet tooth was aching to be satisfied.   Poire Belle Helene may be counted among my top three favorite desserts (other will be revealed in a timely way).   This simple dessert was created by the 19th century chef, Auguste Escoffier and is named after Jacques Offenbach's opera buffa - Belle Helene.  ( there are so many desserts that have musical themes - either named for a personality, Peches Melba, Pavlova, Tournedos Rossini - or like this one, a work).   Escoffier poached  pears in a simple sugar syrup and served them with vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce.   Mine are slightly more complex (partly because I like to poach the pears in wine, red or white, and spices) - but still very simple.
My  chocolate syrup - which may make some of you shudder in horror- simply involves melting, in a double boiler, top quality chocolate - milk, bittersweet, as you like (I used Callebaut milk) with some milk or heavy cream.  I used almond milk and a splash of Amaretto liqueur. Stir  1/4 pound broken pieces chocolate in the top of a double boiler until melted.  Add the milk and stir until thoroughly combined.  Add a splash of liqueur as desired.    Remove from heat and let cool - it will set up and thicken.   Split a poached pear, stem to stern, add a scoop of ice cream of your choice in between the halves (I used Jane's toasted coconut) and top with chocolate sauce.

Bloody Marys, Chocolate desserts, and Esopus Falls

On Sunday I attended, with my friends, Mark & James,  Chocolate Lovers Brunch in Saugerties, NY.  The event benefited a good  and (unfortunately) in demand organization FAMILY  which provides, as its name implies all sorts of family services.    Guests were invited to bid on a variety of items in both a silent and live auction.  We were treated to a variety of brunch offerings from chocolate chip waffles, to eggs benedict and all important chocolate desserts; pots de creme, brulee, mousse, Sacher torte, and on and on.  The geneorus brunch was offered by Diamond Mills in Saugerties


 

SUSANSIMONSAYS:

Dessert First, Always

 I just about always think about dessert first.  Even when I go out to eat, I ask to see the dessert menu along with the customary one.  Seeing what's for dessert informs what I'll eat before its turn.  
My friend, Roy, was coming up for the weekend.  I needed to plan at least our first meal together.  I mean the first meal at home, because soon after he got off the train and stashed his stuff in his bedroom we drove up Warren Street to Grazin' Diner for one of their delicious, local, grass-fed beef burgers (more on them soon).   Dessert - I had some red wine poached pears that I cooked the day before Roy's arrival at the ready.  

I used red comice pears.  Place the peeled and cored pears in a deep, non-reactive sauce pan. Cover them with  hearty red wine and a bit of water.  Add about 1/2 cup sugar for 6 small pears, 3 slices of orange and the juice of the remaining piece, and a cheese cloth packet of cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, cardamom pods, and a few fennel seeds.  Poach the pears at medium-low heat (don't let boil) until a tester easily passes through them - 1 - 1 1/2 hours.   Remove the pears from the liquid with a slotted spoon and reserved.   Remove the orange slices and spice packet from the liquid and turn up the heat. Boil until a syrup the consistency of maple syrup is achieved - about 20 minutes.  Watch carefully as the syrup can turn to glue in the blink of an eye.  Pour the wine syrup over the pears and refrigerate.  They last for days and days.  So, even if you're only feeding 2 people - make 6, because what a nice surprise to have the pears just waiting for you to have one for dessert, any time, simply with the syrup poured over the top, with some ice cream (in this case, Jane's rum raisin), heavy cream, yogurt or, you know, my favorite, ricotta.

Around the same time as I poached the pears, I made a salsa verde - green sauce, convinced that it would somehow work with dinner.  Dinner starred the last pound of Nantucket bay scallops that I had frozen on December 28th, 2011, the day after they were shucked - and I returned home to Hudson from spending Christmas on Nantucket.  Scallops freeze very successfully.   And, the salsa verde - which is a bit like the chimichurri  recipe  I gave you over a year ago seemed like an excellent match.  However, here's how I make the green sauce:  add lots (almost 2 cups) of fresh, flat leaf (Italian) - cleaned and dried - parsley leaves to a food processor with a large clove of garlic, 1 small hot pepper (I used Thai), the juice of 1 juicey lemon, 1 heaping tablespoon capers (I used the kind that are preserved in salt, rinsed - because I think they have more flavor), and a few anchovy fillets which are optional.   With the processor's motor running, slowly add a cup of extra virgin olive oil, or more.  Process until the parsley is chopped somewhere between finely and coarsely. You want this sauce to be slightly loose.   The sauce will last for weeks, refrigerated.
I had a bag of polenta from Wild Hive Farm that I had purchased at - where else? - Lick the Market a few weeks ago and I had been looking for a way to use it.  Dinner was  coming together.   Scallops and polenta and salsa verde.  So Venetian.  Wet, loose polenta, in the style that  the Venetians refer to as all'onda - like a wave, with seafood.  Just the thing.  Roy patiently stirred the polenta.  This is NOT instant polenta - and who would want instant polenta anyway????  Add 1 of cup polenta to 6 cups of barely salted water and cook it  slowly stirring with a whisk (to keep lumps from forming) for almost 40 minutes - which goes quickly when 2 people are standing around the kitchen with a tasty cocktail. The result was a perfect polenta  which was finished with a large lump of butter and a bit of grated Parmesan cheese.   At the same time the polenta was finishing off I added  butter to a skillet over high heat.  As soon as it melted I added the scallops and let them cook for 90 seconds, at the most.  They don't need much. They just need to become opaque.  To serve; add the polenta to a warm bowl, add scallops and splash with as much salsa verde as you like.    And a sprinkle of just-gifted, Hawaiian pink salt.  You know, salt is the gift to give someone who has jut moved to a new home so that they will never shed tears.
The Wild Hive Farm polenta was great.  Very corny and a nice texture.

The next day we made the rounds of all the Hudson food establishments then took off for Rhinebeck.  There was an special occasion which brought us to Rhinebeck and the Blue Cashew, Kitchen Pharmacy - it was a personal appearance by the cookbook author, Rose Levy Beranbaum who was at the shop to sign copies of her latest book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes.  Roy did the prop styling for the book so we were especially pleased to be there.  Personally, I was happy to continue with the dessert theme.  There were a few samples of Rose's cakes, and  champagne-filled flutes.

The author, Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Sean Nutley, co-owner of Blue Cashew, and guests.

Ben Fink and his husband, Joe Tully.  Ben photographed the book.  He loves food and it shows in his stunning work.

Roy Finamore - prop stylist for the book, Cynthia Lathrop, art archivist and Steve Izos, co-owner of Gris an antique shop in Hudson.

Bryan Graham, owner Fruition Chocolate, and friend.

SUSANSIMONSAYS:

You probably already know how to refresh a baguette (or any bread) by sprinkling water on it then heating it up in the oven until it's dry and crunchy again - well, Roy just showed me another way to achieve the same thing.   Dampen a paper bag, add the bread that needs perking up to it and put it in the oven.  When the bag dries the bread is ready.   Good as new.

First Snowy Weekend, 2012

It's been a warm winter.  Oh, those few days that made our teeth chatter and our hair a mess because we needed to wear hats were anomalies.  We were reminded of the norm when the snow fell for the first time in 2012 somewhere between the late hours of  January 19th and the 20th.   It was just enough snow to send me straight to the Agway in Claverack to buy a pair of fake Mucks (insulated snow boots) which I actually like better than the originals - because they're black - and very chic.

I also felt the need for something seriously substantial for dinner.  I wanted the food to warm up my insides and make me sleepy.   In the meantime I just happened to be playing Scrabble  on Facebook and having an online chat with my friend - which is a very nice way to communicate as you must compose and write down your thoughts - or not.  Roy, a food expert and I, food-interested, talk about what's for dinner - all the time.  He always has a good idea.   The Friday of the first mini snowfall I was trying to figure out what to do with a pair of chicken legs and thighs.  "Marinate them in yogurt and sumac, then roast them".  Hmmm - good idea indeed.  When I was going in the direction of the Claverack Agway I thought that I should go just a few miles further east to the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store and get some of their rich and tangy, biodynamic yogurt.  Powdered sumac - used mosty in North African and Middle Eastern food preparations - is part of my spice collection.  The tart spice adds citrus flavor to anything to which it's added (in fact, you can substitute lemon juice for any recipe asking for sumac).  I'm sure that you've seen sumac plants growing in almost any environment where they're allowed to flourish and not pulled out with the rest of the weeds that surround them.  They are easily recognized by their Christmas tree-shaped leaves and pine cone-shaped cluster of brick-colored berries.   "What if I add some fresh thyme leaves as well?(just purchased from Lick the Market)".  "Yum" said Roy.  That was it.  I marinated the legs and thighs in yogurt to cover, about a tablespoon of powdered sumac and a heaping tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves - for an hour or so.   Then I roasted them at 375 degrees F., turning once, for 45 minutes.  I finished them by putting them under the broiler for a few minutes, just enought time to burnish them.   This preparation really wants to be grilled outdoors - at least I think.

A friend had just gifted me with a jar of  Tunisian couscous ( purchased from Olde Hudson - they do mail order) .   Talk about timing.  The easy-to-make couscous was the perfect accompaniment for the chicken - and it looked so comfortable sitting  on a bed of the pebbly pasta - cooked exactly according to directions and mositend with chicken pan drippings to serve . 

Friends from down-the-road in Rhinbeck came for tea on the day after/during the succesive snowfall.   We gathered around the fire, caught up on each other's news and happily drank tea - and coffee - and ate bites of some of my favorite snacks; roasted pears (see posting, December 9, 2010) with the fabulous Kunik cheese (which I talk about all the time), and my mother's ginger snaps ( recipe on 21 October 2011 posting).
Somehow that first snowfall has turned into slush from the fairly warm rainfall.  Winter?  I'm not sure I'm ready for you to go away so quickly - but, I rather not squash my hair into another hat.   Oh, vanity, thy name is a woman who worries about her hair too much.
  SUSANSIMONSAYS:

Just bloomed.  Amaryllis - EXOTIC STAR - I planted the bulb about a week after Christmas - and here it is.

Cocktail Party Prolonge' # 2

In a previous post I talked about how a cocktail prolonge' is my new favorite way to entertain.  The more I invite friends over to graze on a  table full of finger food, and then serve them an entree type dish about an hour and a half or two hours into the party  - the more convinced I am that the cocktail prolonge' is the only way to entertain.  I'm pleased to see how people mix with each other - more than they would at, say, a sit-down dinner (they still get a chance to sit down - just on a more comfortable chair!) - as they go back and forth to the table try another  sample of the selection.  So, when a friend, from Paris, came to visit, (he hadn't been in the City for 4 or 5 or 6 years - he claimed he couldn't remember) I collected a group of his old friends and invited them to come over to my place for a cocktail prolonge'.
Another one of the secrets to the success of the this style of entertaining - is to make everything ahead of time (at the most  you'll just need to heat the entree) - and not to feel the least bit guilty if you buy a few things - and then customize them to make them your own.   Check the menu to see what I mean.
Here's what I served:
.  Fat, Sesame Seed Grissini Wrapped with Thinly Sliced Sorpressata, Black Olives

.  Port Wine "Poached Figs with Goat's Milk Cheese and Chopped, Salted Pistachios
Remember those figs  from the  Easy, Rosy Last Minute Cocktail Party post?   Well, two months later I  had some leftover figs that had progressed from semi-dry to rather dry.  They were added  to a saucepan and covered  with half Port wine and half water and simmered  until they were extremely soft.  I removed them from the pan then reduced the remaining liquid to a syrup.   I cut the cooled figs in half, put a rounded teaspoon of soft, plain goat's milk cheese on the cut-side, drizzled a bit of the Port syrup over the top and then sprinkled chopped salted pistachios over each piece.

.  Sweet and Salty Almonds
See last Cocktail Prolonge' for recipe.

.  Kunik with Roasted Pears
Again, see last post for the description.

.  Garlicky Baked Artichoke Hearts
I buy the artichokes from a little Italian food shop in my neighborhood.  However, if you don't have a Russo's nearby - you can easily make them.   Use canned or frozen artichoke hearts (not in oil).  Pack them into a baking dish, stem-side down.  Mix fresh garlic smashed through a press and lots of freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley with a generous amount of olive oil.  Pour the mixture over the top of the artichokes making sure it sinks down in between the leaves.  Cover with unseasoned breadcrumbs.  Bake at 350 degrees F. until the top is golden and the sides of the dish are bubbly,  25 - 30 minutes.  Let cool serve.

.  Smoked Salmon Focaccia
For years, this has been one of my catering signature dishes. It's pizza dough (I'll give you my recipe in a future post) stretched into logs, then covered with thinly sliced red onions and baked at 500 degrees F. until golden, about 10 - 12 minutes.   The cooled focaccia is covered with ersatz mascarpone which I make by blending equal amounts of unsalted butter and cream cheese.  I add freshly ground black pepper and lemon zest to the mixture which is then generously spread on the focaccia.  The cream cheese mixture is topped with a layer of smoked salmon.  The logs are then cut into  1/2 to 3/4- inch pieces.  I like to serve them, stacked, log cabin-style on a platter.

(Pre) Set a Sideboard or Top of a Chest of Drawers   with a pile of napkins, forks and a stack of plates for serving the entree'.

.  BUTTERNUT SQUASH LASAGNE
This fool-proof recipe - from my book "The Nantucket Holiday Table" (Chronicle Books, 2000) - always satisfies.  In the book, it's called Pumpkin Lasagne - however, pumpkin season is a relatively short one - butternut squash is available  throughout the winter.  The lasagne can be put together in the morning  then cooked just before serving.   This recipe serves 8 - I made 2 for my party of 8.  I put the 2nd one in the oven when the 1st one was halfway through cooking.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
1 onion coarsely chopped
1 cup dry white vermouth
3 cups 2-inch cubed pumpkin, steamed until soft
2 rounded tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 rounded teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 pound good quality precooked lasagne noodles such as Barilla, DeCecco or Dalverde (I used  fresh noodles)
1/4 cup gated Parmesan cheese
10 -12 fresh sage leaves
 1.   In a large, heavy-bottom skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil over medium heat.  Saute' the onion until transparent.  Reduce heat and add the vermouth and squash.  Smash the squash with a potato masher or the back of a fork.  Stir with a wooden spoon to combine with the other ingredients.  Keep at a low simmer.
2.   Meanwhile, make a white sauce:  In a medium nonreacitve saucepan over medium heat, melt 2
tablespoons of the butter.  Add the flour and cook for 3 minutes stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.  Add the milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Stir continuously until the mixture is slightly thicker than buttermilk.   Add to the squash mixture.  Stir to thoroughly combine.
3.   Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F.  Use 1 tablespoon butter to grease an 11-by 7 1/2-by 2-inch baking dish, then cover the bottom with sheets of precooked noodles.  Spread about 1/2-inch of squash mixture over the noodles and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the grated Parmesan cheese over it. Repeat layering until all the squash mixture is used, ending with a layer of noodles.   Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.  Scatter the sage leaves over the top.  Dot with the remaining tablespoon of butter.  Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15  minutes.  Uncover and bake for 15 minutes more, or until bubbly at the sides and golden on top.   Serve immediately.

. Sliced Blood, and CaraCara Oranges

I love the way oranges finish off a meal.  I  remember when I was in Italy for the first time being pleasantly surprised when people would order a spremuta d'arancia - orange juice - for dessert.   I like to "dress" the oranges, Moroccan-Style with a splash of orange blossom water, a shower of powdered cinnamon and some shaved coconut.  Make the plate of oranges a few hours ahead of time so that all the flavors have a chance to seep into each other.
I put this platter out with a bowl of Medjool dates - and some cookies and chocolates brought to the party by some of the guests.

SUSANSIMONSAYS:

Cocktail party prolonge` - 12th Day of Christmas Eve

I sent out an invitation to a few friends on December 26th, 2010. It went something like this - "Do you think that Christmas was over and done with yesterday?  Oh no.   There are twelve days of Christmas and I'm not just talking a partridge in a pear tree.  The 12th day, January 6th, Epiphany, is the time that the 3 wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus.  The 12th eve is January 5th and this Jewish girl has decided to celebrate with a cocktail prolonge`.  7pm - whatever.   A light supper will be served a 9 or so."
Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the term cocktail prolonge` (just as I was up until about a year ago) - let me explain, this style of party was at the height of its popularity in the mid-19th century in Europe. It's a cocktail buffet.  A "prolonged" cocktail party.  Guests can stand or sit, go to a table filled with bite-sized food as many times as they wish, and drink cocktails, and glasses of  wine. Somewhere around 9 - 9:30 a small plate of hot food- which I call a light supper is served.  I usually choose a simple pasta dish - or for this particular party, risotto.  I choose starchy dishes because they always satisfy any remaining hunger and sop up too many cocktails or glasses of wine. Another reason  I  chose risotto was because it let me showcase some of those freshly shucked Nantucket bay scallops that I spoke about in a previous posting. The addition of pomegranate seeds with their sugary, tart flavor and crunchy texture marry, in stunning way, with the sweet, velvety smooth bay scallops.   The dish was inspired by a  pomegranate-seed studded risotto made with Prosecco that I ate a few years ago while visiting a friend in the Veneto region of Italy.   Two years ago I made that pomegranate risotto and topped it with bay scallops, cooked Venetian-style.  It has become a signature dish.

But wait - here's what I served to graze upon - along with cocktail shaker-fulls of Pisco Sours (see  "And then I went to Patagonia" post for recipe), glasses of icy Prosecco, red wine and anything else people wanted to drink.

Sweet and Salty Roasted Almonds - Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Spread about a pound or a pound and a half  raw almonds onto a parchment paper-covered baking sheet with sides or a jelly roll pan.  Add 2 tablespoons brown rice syrup, 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive and 1 heaping teaspoon of flaky sea salt to the pan.  Use a rubber spatula to evenly coat the almonds with the the other ingredients.  Make sure are evenly spread out.   Bake until the almonds are darker brown and the liquid ingredients are bubbling, about an hour.   Let cool on a baking rack.  Some of the almonds will clump together as they cool.  Separate before serving.  The almonds should be stored in a container with a tight-fitting lid.  They will stay fresh for weeks.

Raw vegetables; celery sticks, English cucumber slices, endive leaves and jicama slices (there was a color scheme!) with spicy peanut sauce.   1/3 cup freshly ground organic peanut butter, 1/4 cup water, zest of 1 lime and juice of 2, 2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons soy sauce,  and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Nantucket honey (more about it in posts to come).  Add the ingredients to a sauce pan and cook until smooth - you may want to thin with a bit more water.  Finish the sauce with a handful of chopped, roasted peanuts.

Selection of cheese; Piave ( a hard Italian cheese from the northwestern part of the country), a log of soft goat's milk cheese, Kunik - an over-the-top, dangerous (because you will become addicted),  New York State (Nettle Meadow) soft cheese made with goat's milk and Jersey cow's milk cream - it will make you deliriously happy served with roasted pears (see Apples and Pears post), medjool dates, semi-dried figs and little toasts made with raisin-pecan bread.

Large, poached shrimp with cocktail sauce.  Heinz' Chili Sauce, ketchup, and very sharp horseradish.

Bacala Mantecato (see Christmas and Codfish post) served with whole wheat baguette toasts and Kalamata olives

POMEGRANATE RISOTTO WITH NANTUCKET BAY SCALLOPS ALLA VENEZIANA

Serves 8 - 12

for the risotto:

1/3 cup grape seed oil (neutral flavor will not compete with other delicate ingredients)
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
2 cups baldo or carnaroli (or any short, fat rice)
1 1/4 cups Prosecco or dry white wine
10 - 12 cups water
kosher salt
3/4  cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
seeds from one pomegranate (see Easy, Rosy Last Minute Cocktail Party post for pomegranate seed removal method)

for the scallops:

3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon finely minced fresh red hot pepper such as Thai, cayenne or jalapeno
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup dry white vermouth
2 pounds bay scallops
1/2 cup firmly packed, finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
salt

1.  Add the grapeseed oil and the onions to a large skillet or a brazier over medium heat.   Saute the onions until they become translucent but not brown, about 6 - 8 minutes.  Add the rice and stir to coat with the oil.  Add two cupfuls of water and stir continuously until all the liquid is absorbed.   Keep adding the water 2 cupsful at a time until the rice is tender  and a bit of liquid remains in the skillet- about 18 minutes.  During the addition of the last 2 cups of water add the grated cheese.
2.  Turn down the heat to a faint simmer, add the butter and pomegranate seeds.  Stir to combine.
3.  In a skillet over medium heat, saute the garlic and hot pepper in the olive oil.   Just as the garlic starts to turn gold, add the lemon juce and vermouth.  Lower the heat a notch and simmer 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the scallops and cook until opaque, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.  Be careful not to overcook, or the scallops will become rubbery in an instant.  Stir in the parsley.
4.   Add the risotto to a large, warm serving platter.  Cover with the scallops.  Serve immediately.

SUSANSIMONSAYS:  If your guests ask you what they can bring to the party - the answer is easy.  "something sweet".   I asked my friend, Roy to bring some gingerbread. He obliged with a lovely, rotund cake glazed with tangy lemon icing.   Amy brought organic, hand-dipped elderflower and raspberry flavored (among others) chocolates from new Nantucket confectioner, Ambrosia - read Amy's article about them in Poetry of Food -, John brought dark chocolate "meltaways" from  Stowaway Sweets , and Mark brought colorful cupcakes in flavors like French toast, and cinnamon toast from The Little Cupcake Shop in downtown New York City.   A perfect end to a perfect evening.

Pears and apples

I don't know about you - but I look forward to the first apples and pears of the season with the same kind of excited anticipation usually reserved for the first June strawberries.  Pears and apples are extraordinarily diverse fruits that can be used in both sweet and savory recipes.

PEARS -  when slowly roasted with olive oil and flaky sea salt, sweet, fragrant pears, with their tiny pebble texture become the perfect accompaniment to soft cheese, rough pates, on sandwiches and as a Parmesan risotto topping. 
Use 4 - 6 pears, or more - as long as you've got the oven on make enough to last awhile. But then again - they're such good little snacks that they disappear at alarming speed.
Preheat an oven  to 325 degrees F. Don't peel the pears - do quarter and core them, slice each quarter vertically into as many  1/4-inch slices as  possible.  Place them on a cookie sheet with sides or jelly roll pan and rub them with a fruity olive olive.   Roast, turning occasionally until they're crispy on the outside and still a bit soft on the inside - about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Some slices will be completely crispy and therefore delicious!
I usually use Bosc pars for roasting.  They're hard and stand up to slow roasting.  However, use Bartlett, Comice or d'Anjou if you wish - just make sure they're still quite hard - not completely ripe. 

APPLES -  The first thing I make with the new of crop of apples is Caramelized Applesauce.  I continue to make it all winter.  I usually use  tart apples such as greenings or  Granny Smiths - but this fall I'm quite taken with Northern Spys.
In a large heavy-bottomed sauce melt 4 tablespoons butter with 1/2 cup sugar.  Stir continuously until the mixture turns medium amber, then immediately add  4 pounds of peeled, cored and thinly sliced or cut into chunks apples.   The caramel will initially hardened; lower the heat and keep stirring, and it will dissolve into the apples.  Cook the apples for 15 minutes or so.  Much depends on how you like your applesauce, chunky or smooth.  Remove from heat and reserve.  I like this applesauce served in a puddle of heavy cream or, with plain yogurt and granola or, on brioche or challah French toast or, as a layer in bread pudding, and on and on.

PEARS and APPLES -  here's a recipe from my book. "Contorni: Authentic Italian Side Dishes for All Seasons" (Chronicle Books, 2003).  In Italian it's called  un contorno suo malgrado - a side dish in spite of itself.  I usually bring it out, in its baking dish, with a selection of cheese either with the main course or for dessert. 
4 apples, your choice
4 pears, your choice
4 sugar cubes, preferably pure cane sugar
2 cups full-bodied red wine
1.  Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F.  Dig out a little hole int he blossom end of 2 apples and 2 pears.  Put a sugar cube in each opening.  Place all the apple and pears in an attractive terra-cotta or ceramic baking dish.  Pour the wine over the fruit.
2.  Bake, spooning the wine over the fruits every 30 minutes, until the fruits appear soft, but not mushy, and are slightly charred, about 2 hours.   Serve warm - not hot - or at room temperature.

SUSANSIMONSAYS: My new favorite use of apples  is in a savory, sweet and spicy dish  called  "Hot Lightening" served  at the  New York City restaurant, Van Daag.  The starring ingredient in this dish are roasted-to-a-crisp fingerling potatoes garnished with bits of crunchy bacon, chopped apples, stroop syrup and a shower of cayenne pepper.