YIPES, THE pear season is almost over and I haven’t given you my favourite pear recipe yet. Rather than wait until they come in again next autumn, I shall squeeze it in now, before we clear our fruit bowls of pears and apples and make room for navel oranges, loquats, and that little glamourpuss, the blood orange.
Pears are one of the few fruits that lend themselves equally happily to sweet and savoury dishes. I love serving them with a creamy blue cheese, or sliced into a pancetta, parmesan and walnut salad with a few winter greens. A spiced pear purée makes a wonderful change from apple sauce for Sunday’s roast pork, and roasted, peppered pears are excellent with game dishes.
I suspect that is also why pears go so well with good bittersweet chocolate, which itself can be almost as savoury in its bitterness as in its sweetness.
This recipe for a whole poached pear coated in deep, dark chocolate is a dramatic presentation of two eminently agreeable ingredients. Add a third in the form of a vanilla bean ice-cream and you have a vertical version of the famous Poires Belle-Hélène, created in the 19th century in honour of Offenbach’s witty, satirical operetta about fair Helen of Troy.
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POACHED PEARS DRIPPING WITH CHOCOLATE
Prep: 10 min
Cook: 30 min
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Serves 6
Tall, slim Conference pears are best for this dish.
4 slightly firm pears
750ml sparkling wine or water
100g caster sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split
2 bay leaves
8 peppercorns
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Sauce
100g bittersweet chocolate
250ml double cream
1tbsp butter, diced
2tbsp soft brown sugar
METHOD
Combine sparkling wine or water and caster sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring. Add cinnamon sticks, vanilla bean, bay leaves and peppercorns. Peel the pears, leaving the stem intact, hollow out the first 2cm of core, and trim the base so the pears stand upright.
Gently poach the pears, uncovered, for 20 minutes (depending on ripeness) or until tender at the base. To make the sauce, finely chop the chocolate. Heat the cream, butter and brown sugar in a small pan and stir, without boiling, until smooth. Remove from the heat, add the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Drain the pears and spoon or pour the hot chocolate sauce carefully over each whole pear, including the stem, until it is lightly but completely coated. Serve with vanilla bean ice-cream.
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www.timesonline.co.uk/foodandwine — for previous recipes from T2