Baked pears with chocolate sauce
Pears in rum
Baked pears in red wine
Stewed pears
Pear and almond pie
Baked pears with chocolate sauce
Ingredients:
4 Conference pear halves, 50 g peeled almonds, 100 g wholemeal biscuits, 50 g butter, 2 heaped tbsp sugar, 1 egg yoke, 2 tbsp lemon juice.
For the sauce:
125 ml whipping cream, 100 g plain chocolate, a lump of butter.
Method:
Drain the pears and place them flat-side up in an ovenproof dish. Chop or grind the almonds, not too fine. Crumble the biscuits by placing them in a plastic bag and crushing them with the base of a sauce pan. Mix together the almonds, biscuit crumbs, melted butter, sugar, egg yoke and lemon juice and stir well. Divide the mixture on to the pear halves and put the dish in the fridge until it is ready to go in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Bake the pears in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes until the topping begins to brown. In the meantime, make the sauce.
Break the chocolate into pieces. Pour the cream into a heat-resistant bowl and add the chocolate. Place the bowl in a pan of simmering water (bain-marie). Stir occasionally until the chocolate begins to melt. Take the bowl out of the pan and continue to stir until the sauce is smooth. Add a lump of butter to make the sauce shine.
Serve the pears on to the plates and spoon the warm sauce over the pears. Also delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Ingrediënten:
500 g small Conference pears, 100 g sugar, 1.5 dl water, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 dl dark rum.
Method:
Wash the pears, peel and core and then place in a large bowl and cover with water. Put to one side. Put the sugar and the water (1.5 dl) in a medium-sized thick bottomed pan. Place on low heat and stir without boiling until the sugar is dissolved.
Now bring the mixture to the boil, reduce the heat and boil the syrup gently for 10 minutes without stirring. Drain the pears and place them in the syrup together with the cinnamon sticks. Cook the mixture for a further 5 to 6 minutes, until the pears are soft. Turn the fruit several times while cooking so that all parts are covered with the syrup. Remove the pears from the syrup and place them in sterilised jars.
Add the rum to the syrup. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Carefully pour the syrup over the pears and seal the jars.
Preserve pears for at least 2 to 3 days before serving to give the pears time to absorb the flavours; once the jar is open eat immediately.
Ingredients:
10 Conference pears, 1.2 l dry red wine, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 or 3 cloves, 1 lemon rind, cut into strips, 300 g sugar.
Method:
Wash the pears and place them close together in a deep ovenproof dish. Pour the wine over the pears, add the cinnamon stick, the cloves and the lemon rind and sprinkle the pears with half of the sugar. Put the dish in a cold oven and heat to 200 °C or gas mark 6.
Spoon the wine mixture over the pears every now and then. After 45 minutes sprinkle the rest of the sugar over the pears and continue to cook in the oven for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool before serving.
If there is too much juice, transfer to a pan and reduce, pour over the pears again before allowing to cool. These pears are best served with a generous portion of vanilla ice cream.
Ingredients:
1 kg cooking or eating pears, rind of 1/4 lemon, 50 g sugar, dash of red wine or ruby port.
Method:
Peel the pears and cut them into quarters lengthwise. Put the pears in a pan and add enough water to cover 3/4 of the pears, heat gently. Add the cinnamon, lemon rind, red wine or port and sugar, put the lid on the pan and cook on very low heat for 2 to 3 hours. (If required add special red food colouring for pears [perenrood] to give the pears a nice red colour.) Take the pears out of the liquid and allow to cool. Remove the cinnamon stick and lemon rind.
If required boil the liquid hard to reduce by half and pour over the pears. If you prefer a large amount of juice do not reduce, but thicken with a little cornflour mixed first with cold water to avoid lumps. You can serve the stewed pears warm or cold.
Ingredients:
2 pieces of (all-butter) puff pastry, 400 g soft pears, 50 g almond paste, 1 egg, 60 ml whipping cream.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Place the pieces of puff pastry on a pastry board. Peel the pears and slice them thinly. Using a rolling pin roll the puff pastry a little thinner and larger, then cut out a circle approximately 12 cm in diameter from each piece to line two (aluminium) pie tins with a diameter of approximately 10 cm. Use a fork to prick a few holes in the bottom.
Spread the almond paste over the pastry base. Arrange the pear slices neatly in the pie tins. Beat the egg and cream together and pour over the pears. Bake the pies in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the pears are cooked and the top is golden brown.