Today I had the opportunity to be a guest on the hot new radio show “Hot Grease” on the Heritage Radio Network. I sat down with host Nicole Taylor to chat about a few food headlines and the upcoming Grub Party. It was my first radio show appearance and it was a great experience. I hope to return real soon to talk more about “Cooking with Jin” and community projects I am working on. BONUS: I got to meet knifemaker, Joel Bukiewicz of Cut Brooklyn. He has an amazing story and beautiful knives that I hope to feature on a future episode of “Cooking with Jin”.
This morning before heading to the radio show, when I got out of bed I started to get nervous and I really wanted to relax, so I decided to bake a sweet treat for Nicole and her crew. I went in my fridge and pantry and took a quick inventory and had all the ingredients to make a pear pie. It was a bit of an experiment for me, because I decided to change up my normal pie crust and add some whole wheat flour and almonds. I was going to go with a rustic pie crust, but I couldn’t get the dough right, so I went ahead and pulled out the tart pan and made it a crumbly tart crust. Also I REALLY wanted to use cardamom, so instead of using cinnamon to sprinkle over the pears I decided to grind up cardamom pods. It totally worked out and the crew was very happy 
Check it out…..
Pear & Cardamom Almond Tart
For the crust:
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsn sugar
pinch of salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces
5 tbsn shortening, cold
2 egg yolks
1tsp vanilla
For the Filling:
5 firm Anjou Pears
1 lime
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
10 green cardamom pods
vanilla bean
1 tbsn flour
2 egg whites
2 tsp water
Make crust:
Pulse almonds in food processor until finely ground. Add flour, sugar and salt, pulse about 2 or 3 times to make sure it is well mixed. Add cold butter and cold shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix egg yolks, vanilla extract and vanilla beans in small bowl, then pour into food processor and pulse until dough forms moist clumps. Gather dough into ball, flatten into disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Grease tart pan (with oil or butter). Roll out dough on floured surface to about 13-inchs round. Place dough into tart pan and form dough in pan.
Whisk together the egg white and water then brush top of crust (not edge). Place empty pie shell in oven for about 15 minutes.
Make filling:
Meanwhile grind brown sugar and vanilla bean in processor 1 minute. Grind cardamom pods in a spice grinder, then add to sugar mix along with flour and process until completely blended. Peel, core and thinly slice pears ( squeeze lime juice over pears to avoid it from turning brown). Sprinkle sugar mixture on pears and toss to coat (reserve 1 tbsn of sugar mixture).
Transfer filling to crust. Brush pears with egg white mixture and sprinkle with with reserved sugar mixture. Bake pie 30 minutes. Cover crust edge with foil to prevent over-browning. Continue baking until crust browns and pears are almost tender when pierced with skewer, about 15 minutes. Cool pie on rack at least 1 1/2 hours. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. YUM!
P.S. If you are interested in getting info on my fool proof pie crust recipe, leave me a comment or email me 
Quick note: Cardamom spice has a complex flavor that can be described as slightly sweet, floral, and spicy with citric elements. It leaves the tongue with a warm antiseptic sensation similar to eucalyptus with a additional peppery after taste. Some have described its flavor as spicy and cola-like. Grind cardamom from one of the whole forms of the spice to insure a superior flavor and aroma, both of which are quickly lost when the spice is pre-ground.
Awesome recipe….really looking forward to see what your gonna do next…keep on moving ma you have some great stuff happening over your way…one
it was a pleasure having you on the show!