Tag: nutmeg

Autumn cooking. Today lets speak about pears

Autumn or early winter cooking, what does this means for you? I heard yesterday someone saying this was the return of roasts in their households. For some others it is chestnuts in the fire-place or a glass of red wine by the fire.  For me at home it is the return of pears, lemons, chestnuts, apples, wild mushrooms and in terms of dishes this is the return of soups and more slow cooked meat dishes or casseroles.

Pears variety in Australia

The main stream pear varieties are  the beurre bosc pear,  the packham pear and the corella pear.   Those varieties are also referred as “european pears”.  The William pear comes from the beurre bosc and is a northern America pear where it is known as the barlett. It is classified as a european pear.

There is a good fact sheet on the varieties and their availability through the Apple and Pear Australia Limited (APAL) website.

The beurre bosc is elongated golden to  pear varietylight brown skin pear.  The skin is quite thick, the flesh is compact , yet very tasty.

 

 

 

pearThe william pear arrives earlier in the season, late summer to early autumn.  It is of medium size, not so elongated as the beurre bosc with quite a round belly.  The william is green when unripe and becomes yellow with or without red parts when ripe. It is a good pear to eat raw, it can also be cooked.

 

The packham pear is a parent of thepear variety william pear and looks quite like it. It is a medium so large size pear, green when unripe and a beautiful yellow when ripe.  When ripe it is juicy and very tasty.  The pear is consumed raw or cooked.

 

 

 

pear varietyCorella pears are quite small, yellow to red in colour.  Their flesh is juicy and milder in flavour than the william, beurre bosc or packham pear.  This pear variety is also good both for cooking and raw.

 

There is also the nashi pear also called “asian pear” variety  which is currently found on markets. The nashi pear is small, quite round, of light colour. It is very juicy with quite a bland taste.

Pear & Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Sauce

I loved for a while those cake with the pears standing upright directly inside the cake. So last week, apparently it was my “mother’s day cake” made by me for me ….and family.

The cake recipe is based on a “quatre quarts” recipe, a French classic cake where flour, sugar, eggs and butter are at equal weight.  I decreased the quantity of sugar, swapped a little flour for hazelnut meal (which I don’t think made much of a difference), added cocoa and a little nutmeg. The pears can be pre-cooked in a sugar syrup if not ripe, else, it is not necessary to cook them.

The cake is cooked until just set, which will leave the middle soft and gooey.  The cake is served with a warm chocolate sauce.

pear chocolate dessert pear chocolate dessert pear chocolate dessert

The recipe is HERE.

 

 

Standing pear chocolate cake with its sauce

For this standing pear  chocolate cake, you will need some small pears, preferably ripe, although not so much they crumble in your fingers.  If your pears aren’t ripe, you should cook them partly in a sugar syrup . Note, there are many ways with sugar syrups for pears, for example, if you don’t have any wine for the poaching, you can use orange juice.  The flavour will be different but still beautiful.

As for the nutmeg, I was experimenting and probably put a little too much (1/2 teaspoon) which was not overbearing but maybe not to everyone’s taste. I have reduced it in the recipe. You could also put a pinch of cayenne pepper or medium chilli powder.

pear chocolate dessert

Ingredients:

For the cake

  • 5 small ripe pears, peeled and cored from the bottom, stem on
  • 4 eggs (about 60 g each)
  • 160 g of sugar
  • 200 g of butter, melted
  • 30 g of hazelnut meal
  • 140 g of plain flour
  • 1 tsp of raising powder
  • 1/4 tsp of freshly grounded nutmeg
  • 60 g dutch cocoa

For the chocolate sauce (from Pierre Herme):

  • 250 ml of water
  • 125 ml of cream
  • 130 g of dark 70% chocolate
  • 70 g of sugar
Preparation:
  1. Line the bottom and side of a springform pan, about 25 cm wide (it can be less but no wider).
  2. Preheat oven to 170°C.
  3. Mix the eggs and sugar until quite moussy. Add in melted butter, nutmeg, cocoa powder and hazelnut meal.
  4. Add in the flour and raising powder.
  5. Pour the batter into the lined mould, placing on pear in the middle and the other pears evenly as a ring.  Make sure there is batter underneath each pear.
  6. Bake until just set (about 30-40 minutes, it varies between ovens), the cake will show a few cracks on the sides and the top does not appear wobbly when the cake tin is slightly pushed.  Allow the cake to cool down a little (or more if time allows) before transferring to a serving plate.   The cake will collapse in the middle as it should still be gooey.
  7. To prepare the chocolate sauce, cut the chocolate in small pieces.  Place in a thick based saucepan the water, sugar, cream and chocolate.  Slowly heat up and stir until smooth with a wooden spoon. Bring to boiling point and simmer while stirring constantly until the sauce becomes unctuous and covers the back of the wooden spoon.  Use the sauce hot, or allow to cool at room temperature and use warm.  The excess sauce keeps in the fridge for two weeks.

Tip-  transferring the cake can be a little tricky.  I use the removable metal bottom of a tart tin as a very large spatula. 

Tip – Keep the cake at room temperature if leftovers (i.e. not in the fridge).

pear chocolate dessert