My Autumn Pear, From Palette to Palate
I love autumn, it brings great colour to the cookery palette and my favourite comes in shades of green, brown and red with memories of my mum. She planted a Doyenne de Comice pear tree in my Oxfordshire garden nine years ago. Every autumn since then our crop of glorious pears keeps getting bigger and bigger. At last count I had 52 ready and waiting to be picked despite loosing a few due to a couple of windy days in October (and a couple of curious kids), but I’ve never had a crop so large before! It’s a beautiful fit that my mother gave me this tree as they are also the senior member of the pear family, the doyenne by name and nature.
A Comice is also a chameleon because it changes to a different colour depending on how it’s cooked. When at home and using in a salad with stilton it’s a wonderful pearl colour, but if I caramelise it with chocolate sauce and chestnuts like my recipe below, it becomes a decadent golden colour. If I roast my pears I like to leave their skins on, but if I eat them raw, or simmer them until soft, the protective skin can be too thick and will overpower the tender flesh.
A Comice can become a soothing compote for breakfast, be sliced alongside cured ham, mackerel or cheese for lunch and roasted alongside pork, duck, game or goose for dinner. A plate of these pears, half raw, half roasted with a dip of baked, molten camembert is both a simple pleasure and a decadent feast. To preserve an edible memory, poach the pears in sugar syrup with vanilla, or simmer them to chutney with cinnamon and honey.
Pears are fantastic in cooking but before you give a recipe a try, why not peel a Doyenne de Comice pear, pick it up and devour the juicy flesh. Trust me, you’ll find it hard saving any for your cooking!
Roast pears with quick chestnut mousse and chocolate sauce / Serves 4
Warm pears and chestnuts with chocolate sauce make a great autumnal dessert. You could, of course, eat the pears, chestnuts and sauce with double cream but the quick chestnut mousse makes the dessert into something really special. The trick is to leave the mousse to blend in your food processor for 2-3 minutes so that it gets light and fluffy. Merchant Gourmet Chestnuts are fantastic for this recipe.
Cooking time: 35 mins
Serves: 4
Vegetarian: Yes
Ingredients:
2 very ripe medium sized Comice pears
200g Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts
2 tbsp melted butter
4 tbsp liquid honey
The Chocolate Sauce
150ml water
50g icing sugar
40g cocoa powder
50g 70% chocolate, chopped 1-2cm
The Chestnut Mousse
220g Merchant Gourmet Chestnut Purée
100ml double cream
50g icing sugar
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 190ºC/375ºF/Gas 5 upper middle shelf
- Halve and core the pears. Put them skin side down in an ovenproof pan with the chestnuts, butter and honey. Bake in your preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pears are golden and tender. Turn the pears halfway through.
- While the pears cook, bring the water for the chocolate sauce to the boil with the 50g icing sugar and the cocoa powder. Simmer, stirring continuously, for 1 minute. Take the pan off the heat, add the chocolate and stir until it melts completely.
- Put the chestnut purée into your food processor. Add the double cream and icing sugar. Blend for 2-3 minutes until light and mousse like. Serve the pears and chestnuts either warm or at room temperature on top of the chocolate sauce. Serve the chestnut mousse on the side.
Photo courtesy of Peter Knab (2008) Cooking in Provence.
