Beautiful Buenos Aires!

The highlight of 2008 for my husband Dick and me was a trip to Buenos Aires in November. We rented an apartment in the leafy neighborhood of Recoleta and devoted ourselves to exploring the bustling barrios of this fabulous city. The streets are alive with tango rhythms and filled with aromas of grilled beef. We got hooked on dulce de leche (a creamy, thick caramel sauce), which is ubiquitous in Buenos Aires supermarkets. To keep the memory of our trip alive, we have been enjoying dulce de leche as a dipping sauce for fruit. Here is a recipe for an easy dessert and my slide show tribute to the city. ¡Buen provecho!




Roasted Pears with Dulce de Leche

Roasting coaxes out the sweetness in sturdy winter fruits. For a truly simple yet elegant winter dessert, finish the fruit with a drizzle of dulce de leche (caramel sauce) or bittersweet chocolate, some toasted nuts and your favorite ice cream.

3 firm but ripe Bosc pears
½ lemon
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons butter
¼ cup sliced almonds
2 cups vanilla ice cream, preferably Edy’s Slow-Churned Light
¼ cup dulce de leche, homemade (recipe follows) or store-bought

1. Preheat oven to 425˚F. Coat a 7x11-inch (or similar 2 ½ quart shallow) baking dish with cooking spray. Peel, core and quarter pears lengthwise, rubbing cut sides with cut side of lemon half as you work. Place pears in prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar and toss to coat. Dot with butter. Bake pears until tender and caramelized in spots, 40 to 45 minutes, turning from time to time.
2. Meanwhile, spread almonds in a small baking pan. Toast in the oven until light golden and fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool.
3. About ½ hour before serving, place ice cream in refrigerator to soften slightly.
4. Just before serving, place dulce de leche in small microwaveable dish; warm in the microwave at High just until pourable, 30 to 40 seconds. Scoop ice cream onto each of 4 dessert plates or dishes. Arrange 3 pear quarters beside ice cream. Drizzle with dulce de leche and sprinkle with almonds.

Serves 4

Dulce de Leche

When you have dulce de leche on hand in your refrigerator, you will find myriad uses for it. Serve as a dip for fruit, topping for ice cream, or filling for crepes. It is Latin America’s answer to our maple syrup.

You can find prepared dulce de leche in specialty stores. But, it is easy to make your own. Not only does homemade taste even better than commercial varieties, it is far less expensive. I had excellent results with this recipe adapted from one of my most treasured cookbooks, The South American Table by Maria Baez Kijac (Harvard Common Press 2003).

1 quart whole (3 ½% milk fat) milk
1 ¼ cups sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 vanilla bean

Combine milk, sugar and baking soda in a heavy 4-quart pan. Make a slit in the vanilla bean with a paring knife. With the tip of the knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into the milk mixture. Add the vanilla bean to the milk. Bring to a simmer, stirring over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is caramel colored and thick. This will take 1 to 1 ¼ hours. Stir almost constantly towards the end of cooking. Transfer to a bowl. Dulce de leche will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. If duce de leche hardens when it is chilled, simply warm it in the microwave or over a larger pan of barely simmering water.

Makes about 1 ½ cups