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    Tuesday, June 03, 2008

    Pears Stuffed with Chocolate

    Many years ago… a dessert I took a fancy to was Pears Supreme.
    Straight from the pages from my trusty “Triple Tested Cook Book”,
    (It is a version of Pears Helene really).

    It consisted of
    8 canned pear halves
    4 dessertspoons of cocoa
    ½ cup cream
    1 beaten egg yolk
    ¼ cup icing sugar
    1 ½ teaspoons brandy

    Drain pears, reserve the syrup
    Place 1 dessertspoon of cocoa in each of 4 pear halves
    Top each pear half with inverted unfilled half
    Refrigerate overnight, in order to dissolve the cocoa
    Sit them in the reserved syrup
    Just before serving whip cream
    Fold in beaten egg yolk, sugar and brandy
    Spoon this mixture over pears
    1 per person

    The first time I made it, it was sensational, the cocoa had turned into chocolate
    A lovely surprise for the lucky diner.
    But on other occasions it was just kinda wet cocoa…
    Could never work out why it worked sometimes and not others.

    We were off to family dinner, I asked Karen our host for the night, instructions for my contribution.

    She suggested I supplemented the Vanilla Rice Risotto (Nigella’s Rice pudding)
    that she was making for dessert.

    What better than a pear dish. They are in season you know.
    I was a little worried that the Pear Supreme could be a disappointment, so I devised a modern version.

    I bought and poached Beurre Bosse Pears

    And stuffed them with a chocolate Ganache
    Chilled and the plan was to drizzle a reduced syrup over them just before serving.
    So you need
    1 pear per person
    1 prune per pear

    And make a syrup
    1 cup wine
    2 cups water
    1 cup sugar
    1 cinnamon stick
    1 strip lemon peel


    Peel, and well core the pears, to make a good size cavity for stuffing
    Then sit in acidulated water to keep white
    Poach in liquid gently (seemed to take about 25 minutes)
    Cool in fridge

    Meanwhile make the Ganache

    2 parts cooking dark chocolate
    1 part cream
    Knob of butter
    Few drop vanilla extract
    Heat gently till melted

    Chill a little
    Place Ganache into a piping bag
    And fill the cavity vacated by the core
    Place prune on bottom of pear to hold the Ganache in
    Leave them on their sides in the fridge till the Ganache sets.
    Meanwhile reduce the syrup and chill

    To serve place pear in dessert dish
    Spoon over with a little syrup
    Accompany with either whipped cream or icecream
    Or in our case, all of the above and also the Rice Pudding.

    Delicious

    P.S.

    There was a slight problem with the syrup
    You know how it takes for ever to reduce…and you stand there, and stand there, and then you walk away, come back, and blow me, it’s caramel!
    It happened…I swore loudly.

    I quickly poured cream into it to stop it from burning.
    Hey Presto a wonderful Caramel Sauce.
    So “an about to be failure” was a “Supreme Pear and Wine Caramel Sauce”.
    Maybe I should still call this dish Pear Supreme.
    Enjoy.


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