Chocolate And Pear Tart

On a rainy, weekend afternoon, there are very few things better than heading into the kitchen for a baking session, especially when it promises to reward you with a tart at the end of it all. The pears have arrived in the market, signalling that the seasons are changing. The first of the season have arrived, plump and juicy. So, of course, they made it to the tart, paired with chocolate, a timeless combination.

 

The recipe I have used is from the much loved and much used 'Popina Book of Baking'. It is a chocolate short crust pastry tart that is filled with a chocolate sponge that is then topped off with some pear slices.

 

 

Many will wonder if the pears are too delicate a fruit to pair with something as decadent as chocolate. It is something I have wondered about in the past but I have always been proven wrong. Somehow, pears seems to effortlessly stand up to stronger flavours such as chocolate or even blue cheese. Not only does it cut through the richness of chocolate but somehow the chocolate helps to enhance the flavours of the fruit.

 

The tart is a fair bit of work but I promise you the result makes it all worth it. The crust is a regular short crust that has cocoa added to it. The cocoa, I think, is more for the visual aesthetics rather than for the flavour. Because all of the flavour is in that filling.

The filling bakes into a soft, moist, chocolaty cake whose texture is regularly punctuated by the crunch of the toasted almonds in the fillings as well as those juicy pears on top.

 

You could pair it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream to serve it as a dinner party dessert but I enjoyed it straight out of the oven, warm with a cup of coffee. Like I said, it is worth all the effort and time spent on it.

 

Have a beautiful week ahead!!

Winter Salad of Pears, Blue Cheese and Walnuts

When you first start writing a blog, you are flooded with messages of encouragement and support from friends and family. Everything you bake or photograph is always greeted with superlatives and the kindest words. Then, a few months down the line, some of them started questioning discreetly, "So, do you eat ALL of that you make, at home or is there someone you share it with??". And by now, a few have come right out and proclaimed with a certain incredulity, "I do hope you are NOT eating all that you make!!" If you knew of my challenges with my metabolism, you would agree these are all valid concerns.

 

 

So, for all my concerned friends out there, you will be happy to know that I have made willing or unwilling guinea pigs out of all my friends and family. My unsuspecting neighbours have been particularly targeted!! I restrict myself to a small portion of whatever it is that I have made or baked. I have realised I bake not because I am a foodie, (in fact, I hardly qualify as one) but because it makes me happy watching people enjoy my food. It's as simple as that!!

But, to put your mind at rest, I bring you a salad today!! While salads are usually linked with summer, do remember the excesses of December haven't completely been erased. I found this salad in Nigel Slater's Ripe, fast becoming the book I turn to when I want to know what to do with the fruit of the season.

 

 

The salad works with the classic combination of pears and blue cheese and is further, embellished with toasted walnuts and pomegranate seeds. The salad dressing is a simple combination of vinegar-oil-cream. For the salad leaves, I only had iceberg lettuce to work with. Ideally, I would have preferred to use a combination of salad leaves, with some darker leaves to add to the visual look of this salad.

 

Reading about the salad, you imagine that the flavours of the blue cheese would dominate. But, here is where the delicate pear surprises, as it stands up effortlessly to the cheese. The toasted walnuts with their nuttiness are a welcome addition on the textural front. The pomegranate seeds add a certain jewelled visual to the salad with the dressing being the glue that brings it all together.

 

This salad looks deceptively light and delicate but in fact, has some robust flavours that make it ideal for the season. The salad is so flavoursome that it should be the highlight of your meal. Pair it with something simple like I did, with some chicken sandwiches.

 

Poires Belle Hélène : Spice-Poached Pears with Warm Chocolate Sauce

Recently, I bought myself a copy of Nigel Slater's 'Ripe'. For someone who has increasingly found herself enjoying baking with the fruit of the season, I thought this book would be a valuable addition to my tiny cookbook collection. And for once, I got it right!!

 

To call this book a cookbook would be doing it gross injustice. This book is much much more. Divided into chapters, with one chapter being dedicated to one fruit, this book celebrates the world of fruit like none other. With his characteristic, evocative style, Slater draws you into the magical world of fruit trees that grow in his backyard, jostling with each other for space. And then as the seasons change, he introduces you to each fruit tree as an unique personality.

 

From the tree to its blossoms to its fruit, from its shape to its colour to its taste, he describes the appeal of each fruit, almost as if it were a person. Elaborating on the appropriate pairings for each fruit, he shares recipes that celebrate the fruit. Along with rustic photographs, this book engrosses and enchants you so completely in its world, that you can't help long for a little patch of fruit trees to call your own!! 

 

 

I was keen on giving one of the recipes from the book a shot. I was looking for something easy and fuss-free and it had to be with pears - the one fruit along with apples that is dominating the market right now. Nigel talks about the pairing of pears and chocolate as a "marriage made in heaven"!! And that's how I zeroed in on this recipe of poached pears along with warm chocolate sauce that has a hint of coffee in it.

As it turns out, this recipe of poached pears with chocolate sauce is a classic French bistro dessert. Created in 1864 by the legendary Auguste Escoffier, this dessert was inspired by the operetta, La belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach. The operetta parodied the story of the infamous Helen whose face launched a thousand ships and set off the Trojan war!! And so in French, this dessert is called 'Poires Belle Hélène'!!

 

Don't you just love these French names?!!? They make something simple sound so elegant and classy, that it makes you want to pull out your high heels and pearls for the occasion!!! 

The dessert is nothing too elaborate. The recipe in the book poaches the pears in a simple sugar syrup with vanilla. I took it further and added some spices - star anise, cinnamon and cloves. The chocolate sauce is more of a chocolate ganache with a hint of coffee. I love coffee but if it's not to your liking, you can leave it out.

 

As you poach the pears, the gentle waft of those spices, namely the star anise and cinnamon, will invade your kitchen and soothe the senses. So delicate is the aroma of the poached pears, that I did wonder, while making the chocolate sauce, if it would overpower and dominate the pears.  

 

And that's where I was surprised. The dessert is something of a 'tango' between the two components. If initially your taste buds are led by the more powerful chocolate sauce, the delicate pear follows with the spices and a certain freshness of the fruit that stands up quite effortlessly to the chocolate. Much like the classical dance, the components embrace each other to create a dessert that is elegant and captivating!

You can have it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream but the opinion at home was that it could easily be done away with.. the choice is, of course, yours!! Either way, the simplicity and elegance of this dessert asks that you try it at least once and you won't be disappointed!!