Dinner Tonight

Wild Blueberry and Pear Crisp

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We moved!

Although I’ve loved spending the past few years in my kitchen in Boston’s North End, it’s time for a change. David and I are lucky enough to have found a great place on the other side of the river that we both love.

We’re much closer to nature, with a little back yard and the Charles River just a few blocks away. We’ve been watching the trees bud and the flowers spring up over the past couple of weeks as we settle in. Lounging on the stairs to our back deck outside in the (still very chilly) night air, we talk about all we’ve left behind and everything we’re looking forward to in our new neighborhood.

To celebrate our first Saturday in our new space, I made this pear crisp. I wanted my first dish to be celebratory: something we don’t eat every day. Because we had loads of unpacking to do, it also needed to be on the low-maintenance end of the spectrum.

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Actually, the first dish I prepared in our new kitchen was a bit of a fiasco. I planned a vegetable curry over rice with a coconut-milk broth, but I had no idea where the can opener was packed. Boxes were piled everywhere, and even though we’d planned ahead to have kitchen boxes labeled and moved in to the kitchen, things didn’t wind up running that smoothly (which tends to happen with moving). It started snowing halfway through the day, which slowed everything down a bit. Even though we were lucky enough to avoid moving in on the first of the month, it was a hectic, long day. By the end of it, the time was creeping past 11:00 at night, and we still hadn’t eaten yet, so David and I put on our coats and headed out into the snow to eat our first meal at one of our new neighborhood’s restaurants.

When Saturday morning rolled around, I wanted to make something fun and a little bit out of the ordinary to kick off cooking in a brand-new kitchen. This charming blueberry-pear crisp worked out wonderfully. And we’re so happy to be here.

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Wild Blueberry and Pear Crisp with Oatmeal-Walnut Topping
Ingredients
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups frozen wild blueberries
4 bosc pears, peeled and chopped
Crumble Topping:
1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick-cooking oatmeal)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons butter
Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the butter, sugar, blueberries, and pears together in a saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the pears begin to soften.
3. Combine the crumble topping together in a separate bowl. Use your hands to work the butter into oatmeal-flour mixture until it forms pebble-sized pieces.
4. Transfer the fruit mixture into a greased baking dish. Distribute the oatmeal topping in an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the crisp topping browns.

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