Rosemary-poached pears with chocolate ganache recipe
This recipe may sound a little strange at first – and it should certainly trigger some interesting conversations – but in fact the flavours and textures balance together very well. As far as your taste buds are concerned, mature stilton and dark intense chocolate have a similar flavour profile, so when eaten or blended together their flavours marry perfectly without one’s overpowering the other.
Ingredients
- 4 firm Williams pears
- 6 long stalks of rosemary
- 1 bottle sweet white wine
- 1 lemon, cut in half
- 4 firm Williams pears
- 6 long stalks of rosemary
- 1 bottle sweet white wine
- 1 lemon, cut in half
- 4 firm Williams pears
- 6 long stalks of rosemary
- 1 bottle sweet white wine
- 1 lemon, cut in half
- 200 g fine 70% dark chocolate
- 300 g double cream
- 75 g soft, ripe stilton
- 7.1 oz fine 70% dark chocolate
- 10.6 oz double cream
- 2.6 oz soft, ripe stilton
- 7.1 oz fine 70% dark chocolate
- 10.6 oz double cream
- 2.6 oz soft, ripe stilton
- 1 tbsp roasted chopped walnuts
- 25 g stilton
- 4 mint leaves
- 1 tbsp roasted chopped walnuts
- 0.9 oz stilton
- 4 mint leaves
- 1 tbsp roasted chopped walnuts
- 0.9 oz stilton
- 4 mint leaves
Details
- Cuisine: English
- Recipe Type: Pudding
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 15 mins
- Cooking Time: 80 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Peel and core the pears, leaving the fruits whole and the stalks intact. To do this, push a corer halfway up into the bottom of the pear, twist and then pull out; then use a teaspoon to scoop out the core.
- Place the pears in a saucepan. Bruise the rosemary with a rolling pin. Add to the pan with the wine and lemon halves. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the pears are soft.
- Remove from the heat and allow the pears to marinate until cold. Then carefully remove the pears from the pan and place on kitchen paper for 5 minutes to soak up any excess liquid.
- Strain the cooking liquor into a clean saucepan and simmer until it is reduced to a thick syrup. This may take up to 30 minutes, but what is left is a wonderfully aromatic and fragrant rosemary syrup to serve with the pears.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
- Now for the ganache. Place the chocolate and double cream in a bain-marie and mix until glossy, making sure that all the chocolate has melted. Break the stilton into small pieces and whisk into the chocolate mixture until smooth and once again glossy. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- Stand the pears on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Roast for 15 minutes, remove, and rest for 5 minutes.
- Holding the stalk of a pear, plunge it into the stilton ganache at an angle to half-coat the pear, and place on a serving plate. Spoon around some of the rosemary syrup, sprinkle around some roasted walnuts and crumble some of the stilton around, too. Using a cocktail stick, make a hole in the top of the pear and push in a mint leaf to finish.
Catch Paul A. Young in BBC Two's new series, The Sweet Makers, which premieres on Wednesday 19th July at 8pm. Adventures with Chocolate by Paul A. Young is published by Kyle Books, priced £14.99.
Photography by Anders Schonnemann.
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