Recipe of the week: Honey-Glazed Pear Upside-Down Cake

Food & Drink

A fall treat mostly ‘borrowed’ from others

All the best recipes are stolen, said Melissa Clark in The New York Times. “Stealing— or, let’s say, borrowing—is how good cooks build their repertoires.” This cake recipe originated from Claudia Fleming’s guidelines for making roasted chestnut honey pears, from her cookbook The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern—a book I helped write. Over time, though, I began to substitute ingredients or modify the instructions for one reason or another—if something wasn’t available or if I was rushed. In making this upside-down cake, I also purloined a little from here, a little from there, borrowing from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours as well as Fleming’s book. Isn’t swiping a good idea “the sincerest form of flattery?”

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Recipe of the week

Honey-Glazed Pear Upside-Down Cake

1/4 cup chestnut or other intense honey

4 small or 3 large Bosc pears, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored

3 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)

1 cup sugar

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 large eggs

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a 9-inch ovenproof skillet (not nonstick), simmer honey until it begins to reduce, caramelize, and darken in color, about 6 to 10 minutes. Do not let honey burn; if it starts to smell burned, turn off heat. Arrange pears close together with cut-side down, in a circular pattern in skillet, stem ends pointing toward center. Simmer over medium heat, turning from one cut side to the other, until they begin to turn golden, about 10 minutes.

Flip pears over to their curved side and scatter with thyme sprigs if using. Transfer skillet to oven and roast, uncovered, until very tender, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together sugar and lemon zest. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Fold in flour and salt; stir in 1/2 cup butter. When pears are soft, remove skillet from oven, discard thyme sprigs, and brush edges of pears with remaining 1 tbsp melted butter. Pour batter on roasted pears and scatter almonds over batter. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cake cool for 30 minutes in pan. Run an offset spatula along edges of pan to loosen cake; carefully invert cake onto a serving platter. Serve warm or cooled. Serves 6 to 8.

Four-star dining in Washington, D.C.

The top restaurants in the greater Washington, D.C., area all take different routes to excellence, said Tom Sietsema in The Washington Post Magazine. Diners find romance at the Inn at Little Washington and dazzling culinary magic tricks at Citronelle. Two other four-star treasures among the capital’s elite:

CityZen

Chef Eric Ziebold, formerly of the French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., is this restaurant’s “force for greatness.” The service can seem merely rehearsed, and the amuse-bouche always offers up the same old mushroom fritter. But anything by this Iowa native that features pork is outstanding, and his “slowly cooked duck is extraordinary.” Blissful desserts include a tangy yogurt surrounded by “a winy moat of dark berries” and a soufflé of carrots with a tiny ball of cream cheese sorbet on a wisp of ginger cookie. 1330 Maryland Ave. SW, in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, (202) 787-6006

Restaurant Eve’s Tasting Room

The latest four-star establishment in town seduces patrons with “soulful cooking” and “some of the best libation ever to cross your lips.” Many restaurants talk about local ingredients, but Restaurant Eve uses herbs from its own garden, and the fresh pot of butter placed on your table might have been made by a friend of chef Cathal Armstrong. Five- and nine-course tasting menus offer French-influenced American dishes. These include Shenandoah Valley lamb; a Stilton tartlet with caramelized onions and bacon; sautéed softshell crab with chorizo and soft-boiled egg cream; and roasted wild chanterelles served on Parmesan-dusted sourdough bread with sun-dried potato jam. The blackberry cheesecake and rhubarb tart with peppermint sorbet stand out among the desserts. 110 South Pitt St., Alexandria, Va., (703) 706-0450

Autumn brews, for ‘sipping’ only

If you think of an everyday Pilsner as a family sedan, said Rob Kasper in the Baltimore Sun, “then Imperial Pilsner is a turbo-charged sports car.” Definitely not a brew for beginners, Imperial is a highly hopped beer loaded with extra flavors and aimed at the connoisseur. Several craft breweries around the country are producing Imperials this fall. All are “sippers, not gulpers,” with about a nine percent alcohol content by volume. These three are among the best:

Rogue ($14 for 750-ml ceramic bottle with reclosable lid) This American take on a European classic “packs a wallop.” Made by Rogue Ales in Newport, Ore., the smooth, malty brew can even be sipped late at night, like brandy.

Golden Era ($14 for four 12-oz. bottles) From Dogfish Head Brewing in Milton, Del., comes a golden, tangy beer that “hopheads cherish.”

Samuel Adams Hallertau ($10 for four 12-oz.bottles) The bitter flavor of this Boston beer just might take your breath away. “Something to sip while nibbling a big blue cheese.”