In Praise of

… Pears

Each month the focus will be on seasonal fruit and vegetables with some recipes to inspire you. This month it is pears: pears can be thick- or thin-skinned with juicy, sweet flesh that can be buttery or slightly granular in texture, depending on the variety. The main British-grown varieties are Doyenne du Comice, Conference and Concorde. Comice has a meltingly soft texture, while Conference is slightly more granular. Concorde, a cross of the two pears, is buttery-textured.

Pear and Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 180ºC or gas mark 4. Bake 20 mins

Ingredients

100g caster sugar 100g butter or soft baking spread 2 eggs 100g self-raising flour 25g cocoa powder 50g dark chocolate chips 1 x 5ml spoon baking powder 2 pears

Method

Grease and/or line a single sandwich tin. Cream the sugar and fat together, ideally using an electric hand whisk, until light and fluffy. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with a fork. Add the beaten egg, a little at a time, to the fat and sugar. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl, or onto a plate or piece of greaseproof paper. Fold the flour, baking powder, cocoa and chocolate chips into the mixture, a spoonful at a time. Spread the mixture in the cake tin. Core the pears and slice thinly. Arrange the pear slices over the cake mix. Place in the oven and bake for around 20 minutes, until golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Spiced Poached Pears with Blackberries

Preparation time less than 30 mins, cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour, serves 8

Ingredients

1 lemon, 1 orange 750ml red wine 200g fresh root ginger 1 cinnamon stick 4 whole cloves 5 fennel seeds 1 fresh bay leaf 1 sprig rosemary 500g caster sugar 300g frozen blackberries 8 pears, peeled and cored leaving top stem intact

Method

Using a vegetable peeler, pare the zest from half the orange and the half lemon, then squeeze the juice from each fruit.

In a large saucepan over a medium heat, bring the orange and lemon zest, wine, ginger, spices, herbs, sugar and blackberries to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid into a clean pan and return the cinnamon stick to the strained mixture. Add the pears and any juices and simmer over a very low heat for about 45 minutes, or until the pears are tender, turning once. Lift the pears carefully from the liquid and set aside. Simmer the sauce until the volume of liquid is reduced by two-thirds, then strain through a fine sieve. The pears can be eaten warm or at room temperature. Pour the sauce over the pears and serve alongside custard or ice cream.

Jane O’Hagan

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