Pear Pie with Lattice Top

Cook Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:

* pastry for 2-crust pie [see crust recipe for Spinach and Mushroom Quiche; add sugar]
* 5 peeled, sliced fresh pears
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces
* glaze [1 egg, 2 TBS milk]

Preparation:
Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Add the sliced pears. Combine sugar, flour, lemon peel, and seasonings; sprinkle over the pears. Drizzle with the lemon juice then dot with the butter. Make a lattice top; flute edges. Whip 1 egg with 2 TBS milk and glaze pie with it. Cover edge of pie with a strip of foil. Bake at 425° [= "7"] for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer.

*To make a lattice top crust, cut rolled out dough into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Arrange 5 to 6 dough strips across top of filling. Form the lattice by arranging more dough strips at right angle to first set of dough strips, weaving the strips if you wish. Trim dough strips even with the overhang on bottom crust. Tuck ends of dough strips and overhang under; press to seal then crimp the edges.

Apricot Samosas

From the Indian fashion magazine "Femina", by way of Sophia ...

Ingredients:

For the samosa dough:
400 grams flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
60 grams cornflour
30 grams ghee (super fatty indian butter)
water, as required
15 grams sugar
100 ml honey
100 ml maple syrup

For the apricot filling:
500 grams dried apricots
1 litre orange juice
150 grams sugar
50 grams butter
50 grams chopped almonds

To prepare the samosa dough:
1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into dough.
2. Divide the dough into 20 balls.
3. Roll the bolls into triangular sheets with a rolling pin.

To Prepare the apricot filling:
1. Mix dried apricots, orange juice, and sugar in a pan.
2. Cook for about 10-12 minutes.
Finally, add the butter and chopped almonds to it and cool the mixture.

Then:
1. Fill the mixture in each triangular sheet and seal.
2. Deep-fry the samosas on low heat until golden brown.
3. Serve with honey and maple syrup.

Sweet Soup Variants

This is the basic recipe for a sweet dessert soup, to which a number
of things may be added as variations.

**Soup Base:

5-8 slices ginger (use more for a spicier soup)
1-2 chunks of rock sugar (a form of raw sugar that looks like clear
light brown rocks)
water

**Variant A: Soup with Balls ("Tong Yuen")

1 packet frozen "Tong Yuen" (= Sweet Glutinous Rice Balls filled with
a) black sesame paste; b) peanut paste; or c) red bean paste)

**Variant B: Soup with Tofu Skin ("Foo Juk") and Egg Flower ("Daan Fah")

1 egg, beaten
3-4 large pieces of dried tofu skin (looks like paper, but brittle,
yellow, and shiny)

1. Put ginger and rock sugar into a pot with 3 cups of water, and
bring to a boil.
2. Boil for 5 minutes, then lower heat to simmer.
3. Leave to simmer for anything up to 2-3 hours, depending on how
spicy you want the soup to be. [**This is perfect for a cook who's
multitasking: put the soup on, and cook the rest of your meal while
it simmers in the background. In fact, keep it simmering until you
are ready for dessert; just add a little water if you need to.]

**Variant A:
4. Boil lots of water in a separate pot. Put the frozen balls into
it, and follow the directions on the packet. They should be done
when they've been floating for a couple of minutes.
5. Fish them out with a slotted spoon into individual serving bowls,
and pour the sweet soup over them. Serve!

**Variant B:
5. With the heat back to medium and water bubbling, pour the egg into
the pot with one hand, and stir with the other; the egg should turn
into "flowery" threads.
6. Break pieces of tofu skin into the soup. Stir, and simmer for
about 3 minutes.
7. Spoon into individual serving bowls.

[**Variant B can also be served cold, in which case you should put
more sugar into the soup, since things taste less sweet at cooler
temperatures.]