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.