Tag Archives: Pear

Blue Cheese, caramelised pear & crispy prosciutto pizza

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feat. Cow’s Creamery “Blue Moo” cheese

Makes enough dough for 2x 12inch pizzas; toppings for 1x 12inch pizza

Ingredients

Pizza Dough (makes enough for 2x 12 inch pizzas)

  • 1 1/3 cups) warm water
  • 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 3 ½  cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
  • 2 Tablespoons cornmeal
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Topping (for 1, 12 inch pizza)

  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 4 oz thinly sliced prosciutto,
  • 5oz Cows Creamery “Blue Moo”, soft blue cheese
  • 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 large Bosc pears, cored and sliced, ½ inch thick
  • 2 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • ¼ cup chopped walnut pieces
  • ½ cup fresh arugula

Method

Pizza Dough

  1. Whisk the warm water, yeast, and granulated sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
  2. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes
  3. Add the olive oil, salt, and flour. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes
  4. Beat the for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready
  5. Lightly grease a large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl with oiled cling wrap. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size
  6. Preheat a pizza stone in a 500°F oven for 20-25 minutes

To prepare the toppings

  1. Finely chop garlic and heat in the olive oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, being careful not to allow the garlic to burn. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool
  2. Simmer the balsamic vinegar to reduce the volume by about half. It should thicken slightly. Set aside until needed
  3. In a large skillet, melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Add the pears in a single layer and cook for about 10 minutes turning once, to caramelize the pears. Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside until needed

To finish and bake the pizza

  1. When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough in half. (If not making 2 pizzas, freeze half of the dough for another time. Stretch the dough into about a 12-13inch round
  2. Place the dough round on a wooden peel that has been well sprinkled with cornmeal. Make sure your pizza is sliding on the cornmeal base before adding your toppings
  3. Brush the garlic olive oil from earlier all over the center of the dough
  4. Add the Cows Creamery blue cheese in about 1 teaspoon sized pieces along with arranging  the pears and prosciutto. (Keep the ingredients in a single layer as this helps the pizza crust stay crisp and cook quickly) Sprinkle over the walnut pieces
  5. Shake your peel to make sure the pizza is not stuck. Slide the pizza onto the hot stone
  6. Bake for about 8-10 minutes or until the bottom is evenly brown and the top cheese begins to brown slightly. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Slide off you pizza stone to serving board
  7. Sprinkle over the fresh arugula and drizzle with the balsamic reduction
  8. Slice, serve and enjoy!

Pear & Almond Skillet Cake

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Almonds are a favorite of mine, no matter what the form. Whether it’s the sweet grainy Niederegger of Lubeck; soft indulgent amaretti of Italy or the crisp, salt sprinkled Grecian bar treats- I’m in. I get they can be divisive. Not everyone can take to the vaguely chemical woodiness of the nuts but whatever the form I remain a fan.

The lure of the almond nut has been such throughout time that people have even braved the  high levels of  hydrocyanic acid (HCN) of the wild, bitter almond to partake of it. Eating 50, or less, of the wild nut could potentially kill an adult with cyanide poisoning. Yet such was the allure of the nut that there are recipes from as far back as the 4th century as to how to neutralize the nutty nastiness within. St. Basil’s Hexaemeron, a Christian text from around the fourth century, contains the following guidance:

“Pierce an almond tree in the trunk near its roots, stick a fat plug of pine into its center and its almond seeds will undergo a remarkable change.”

It would seem that the introduction of a foreign botanical sample triggers a metabolic reaction which neutralizes the trees natural HCN production. I can’t testify to the effectiveness of this trick so in the words of all good PBS science programs- please don’t try this at home. But fear not folks,  thanks to a genetic mutation thousands of years ago, modern domesticated sweet almonds are delicious and safe to eat. Unless consumed in massive quantities wherein constipation; Vitamin E overdose and weight gain (to name a few) might result. Everything in moderation as they say! Enough serious talk- you came here to bake (or accidentally got redirected here whilst researching Michael Keaton’s back catalogue).

In my view almonds and pears are one of those quintessentially ideal pairings for baking with. Maybe it’s because they both conjure up images of lush, bacchanal orchard woodlands in my head? Or maybe it’s some other more exacting culinary scientific reasoning unbeknownst to me. As it is, this time of year with bumper pear crops just begs for some autumnal-tinged goods to be baked in the kitchen. I love this recipe as it’s very  much a no-fuss, rustic as you come affair. Cooking it in a skillet means no tin, springform or otherwise, to faff around with and presentation is as easy as pie (or should that be “cake” here? If you’re serving it warm why not go the whole way and slide a dollop of ice cream next to it on the plate? I can whole-heartedly recommend a French vanilla morphing into ribbons of silky, creaminess aside the fragrant cake.

I will hold my hands up and admit this – I also use the simple icing sugar dusting to hide the lack of my Instagram worthy pear pinwheel finish to the top of the cake. Of all the times I’ve made this cake I’ve only maneged the fluke of getting the pears to bake atop the surface twice. More often than not the pears sink that little bit and the batter rises that little bit so the pear slices get engulfed in the finish cake with morsels subtly peaking out here and there. Not that this is a bad thing I suppose? It could be argued that this adds an extra layer of interest with unexpected bites of fruitness throughout the cake. My point is don’t beat yourself up too much about not having the “pear wheel” on top or how it looks- this will taste seriously good anyway!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup and 2 Tbspns (separated) salted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups fine sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup ground almonds
  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 1/4 tspn kosher salt
  • 1 Tbspn ground ginger
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 medium Bosc pears, cored and sliced into 8 vertically
  • Icing sugar, to dust

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Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F, and place a 10″ cast iron skillet in to heat through
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until pale and fluffy, I usually do it for 6- 8 minutes, stopping to scrape sides of bowl halfway through
  3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
  4. In a small separate bowl, whisk together ground almonds, flour, salt and ground ginger. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture in thirds, alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating just until combined after each addition
  5. Beat in both the extracts until combined. Set mixture aside for now
  6. Carefully remove the hot skillet from oven and melt the 2 Tbspns butter on it, swirling to coat the bottom and sides
  7. Spoon batter into the heated, greased skillet and lightly spread to an even layer.
  8. Arrange pear slices in a pinwheel fashion over the top of the batter
  9. Bake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes.
  10. Remove and let the pan cool in pan for 10 minutes. Dust with icing sugar, and serve warm
  11. The finished cake can be sliced and stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days

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Cranberry, Pear & Dark Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

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Okay- I’ll come clean. I don’t actually like hot cross buns. Well- hot cross buns in the “traditional” sense. Dried fruits of sultanas, currants and raisins do absolutely nothing for me and hot cross buns I place firmly in the same category as Christmas Cake. I’ll accept them to be civil, I’ll bake them to experiment and I’ll eat them under duress. So it only seems fitting that this Easter season I come up with something  a lot more palatable, even to the those of us prone to outbursts of “inyaphobia” (yes, it’s a thing I jest you not…Google it).

I can’t quite put a finger on where my malaise with dried fruit comes from. It probably has its roots, like all else culinary for me, in my childhood and my mother’s kitchen. Each festive season, whether it be Easter, Christmas or Halloween was heralded with a routine palette of sensory ticks…the flat clanging of baking trays on kitchen surfaces, the heady scent of dried fruit steeping in brandy, cold tea or whatever liquid was to hand, and the frequent blistering blasts of heat from oven. It’s the smell of the dried fruit steeping that sticks with me, permeating memory as much as clothing. Like anything in life familiarity breeds contempt, and boy did my mother like a fruit cake!

Hence my deviation from hot cross buns with their traditional sultana/mixed peel combination. Instead I give you an almost “regal” combination of cranberries and pear (yes, I’m aware they’re dried too but far more tolerable in my view) laced with dark chocolate chunks. Chocolate makes everything better. Except fish- that’s just wrong! So best you stick to making these hot cross buns instead.

*This recipe has been revised in April 2020 to include measurements/ quantities and ingredient names as suitable for Canada and the US. Throughout the recipe I still refer to the ingredients as they were originally drafted.

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Ingredients
500g/ 4 cups All Purpose/ Plain flour
85g/ 1/3 cup (caster) sugar
2 teaspoons mixed spice powder (if you don’t have this you can use pumpkin spice mix)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
10g/2 teaspoons Kosher salt
14g/ 2 1/4 teaspoons fast-action dried yeast
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
40g/ 2 tablespoons butter
300ml/ 1 1/4 cups whole fat milk
1 egg, beaten
65g/ 1/3 cup dried cranberries, soaked in

2 tablespoons orange juice
65g/ 1/3 cup dried pear, chopped into small pieces
65g/ 40z dark chocolate/ semi-sweet chocolate, chopped in small/ medium chunks

Cross marking
50g/ 1/2 cup All Purpose/ Plain flour
80ml/ 1/3 cup cold water

Glaze
2 tbspn golden syrup/ light corn syrup

Method

  1. Line a baking sheet/ tray with baking parchment and set aside for later
  2. Combine the flour, sugar, spices, salt and yeast into a large bowl. Make sure the salt and yeast are on opposite sides of the bowl
  3. In a pan combine the milk, vanilla extract and butter. Heat over a medium/low heat until the butter has melted. Allow the mixture to cool until tepid
  4. Add 1/3 the tepid milk mixture to the dry ingredients, along with the beaten egg. and use your hands to bring the mixture together. Add in the second 1/3 of the milk mixture and continue forming a dough, taking any stray flour from the sides of the bowl
  5. Finally, slowly add the remaining milk until you form a soft pliable dough. Take note here as you may not need all of the milk
  6. Tip the dough out on to a lightly oiled work surface. Knead by hand for about 7-8 minutes. After this time add the fruit and chocolate chunks into the dough and continue to lightly knead for 3-4 minutes until you have a smooth, elastic dough and the fruit & chocolate has been incorporated (*If you are using a stand mixer please see the note below)
  7. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in it, covering with oiled cling film and leave to rest in a warm place until doubled in size (apx 1 hour)
  8. Tip the dough on to a lightly oiled surface and divide into 12 balls. (I usually do this by rolling it into a thick sausage shape, apx 40cms long. Divide into 2, then divide each half into 6 equal pieces and roll them into balls)
  9. Place the balls on the tray, placing them fairly close together and flattening them slightly
  10. Cover the baking tray with oiled cling film and leave for an hour until the balls have doubled in size
  11. Preheat the oven to 350F/170C degrees
  12. For the cross marking, combine the flour and water in a bowl. Mix together to make a paste and spoon into an icing bag
  13. When the buns have risen remove the tray from the bag, snip the end of the piping bag (making a hole about 3mm) and pipe a cross on each bun. Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden-brown, turning the baking trays round halfway through

*If you are using a stand mixer for the dough, attach the dough hook and follow steps as follows

  • Combine the flour, sugar, spices, salt and yeast into a large bowl. Make sure the salt and yeast are on opposite sides of the mixer bowl
  • Follow Steps 4 & 5 above to combine the liquid
  • Continue to knead in the mixer for 5 minutes
  • After 5 minutes remove the dough from the mixer, add  the dried fruit & chocolate chunks and continue to lightly knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough and the fruit & chocolate has been incorporated (apx 3-4 minutes)
  • Proceed to Step 7 above and follow remainder of method as above

To finish

  1. Warm the golden syrup in a pan and while the buns are still warm, brush the buns with a little syrup to glaze. Return to the wire rack and allow to cool.
  2. Serve with fresh butter. They can be lightly warmed in an oven for tasty seasonal breakfast treat. Enjoy!

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