It's Your Birthday! You Can Have Pie If You Want To.

When my children were growing up, birthdays were a big event. This of course meant parties and presents but it also meant you got to have whatever you wanted for dinner. Easy enough for me, when they were eight or ten but kids have a way of growing up. Along the way they discovered new foods. This sometimes included foods I had never heard of before. So, on my daughter’s 19^th or 20^th birthday she asked for spanakopita.  I didn’t even know what that was or how to make it but I got a recipe and I had my first experience with phyllo dough.

Spanakopita is simply a layered Greek spinach pie. It has phyllo and spinach and feta cheese and some other wonderful stuff so…….. I set off to make it.

I gathered my ingredients and read the instructions on the phyllo, which explained how to layer it and keep it from drying out. I was still not prepared. When the package says it is thin, they are telling the truth. It reminds me of very thin tissue paper only it’s pliable for about 30 seconds and then it gets brittle if you don’t put some butter or something on it. Anyway I managed to salvage enough of it to complete my task but I swore I would never work with it again.

 

Well, everyone loved the spanakopita and it was requested over and over again and I got better. Mostly I think I just quit worrying about it drying out and worked a little faster. I still don’t cover it with a damp towel and all that. I simply make sure I have everything ready to go before I ever take the phyllo out of the packaging.

Anyway, I started finding new ways to use phyllo and now I use it in a lot of recipes and it can add a new twist to an old standard like a pear tart. Here’s my version. I added the persimmons because I like them and I had some and they sure make the clafouti pretty.  

 

 

Pear-Persimmon and Brie Clafouti with a Citrus Balsamic Glaze

1-8oz roll phyllo dough, thawed

½ cup butter, melted
4oz crumbled Brie
4 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, finely sliced
3 persimmons, peeled, sliced
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2/3 cup cream or half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons lemon zest
¼ cup citrus jam or orange marmalade
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (I used grapefruit)

Spray 10 inch springform pan with cooking spray. Heat oven to 350 degrees

Unroll phyllo, remove a single sheet and place in the bottom and partially up sides of springform pan. Brush with butter and crisscross with another sheet brushing it with butter. Pivot next sheet of phyllo slightly and brush with butter. Continue layering until you have 8 layers.

Place layer of cheese in bottom of crust and top with sliced pears. Place persimmons on top of pears. Cover with damp paper towel and refrigerate while you prepare custard.

In a small bowl, beat eggs and sugar about 1 minute. Add flour, cream, lemon zest and vanilla. Pour mixture over pears.

With remaining phyllo, remove 2 or 3 sheets at a time and roll sheets and tuck phyllo around top edges of custard to form crust. Brush generously with butter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine citrus jam or orange marmalade and balsamic vinegar. Remove clafouti from the oven and brush with balsamic mixture. Cover edges of clafouti pan with a pie ring to keep crust from burning. Return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm with remaining citrus sauce. Makes 8 servings

The salty Brie and tart persimmons combined with the sweet pear create a flavorful, rich taste sensation that will leave your guests asking for more. Simple, yet elegant, this enchanting dessert will soon be a holiday favorite.