RECIPES

Pears baked with cinnamon and red wine laced with polenta vanilla custard sauce

Williams pears are excellent for this dish, but any ripe pear is good. The custard is very quick to make, used quite thick in this recipe as a bed for the pears.

Ingredients
(serves 4 good portions)

• 4 ripe pears
• 2-3 glasses of red wine
• 1 glass fruit juice or saved dried fruit soaking liquor
• 100 grams sugar
• Half teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 medium size saucepan

Method

• Peel the pears leaving the stem on. Place in the saucepan with the other ingredients simmering until tender, 20-25 minutes.
• The pears should be semi covered by the cooking liquor, as it reduces down start to turn the pears to keep them moist and coated in the syrupy juice that is forming.
• Once the pears are tender, remove and keep them warm, reduce the cooking liquor to a consistency that will coat the pears. Serve on a bed of the custard, and then coat with red wine sauce.

Leftovers:

Will keep 1-2 days, sliced for example as a filling in a pancake.

Polenta vanilla custard

Ingredients

• 100 grams polenta
• 250 ml milk or alternative
• 2-3 dessertspoons of honey
• 50-80 grams of sunflower seeds and or almonds
• 3-4 drops of vanilla essence

• Small thick-bottomed saucepan

Method

• Soak the sunflower seeds and or almonds, just covered in water for about an hour.
• Then drain and place them in the blender, cover with a third of the milk and pulse until smooth.
• Heat the rest of the milk to scalding point, stir in the honey, vanilla and blended seeds/nuts, then sprinkle in the polenta and stir again. Turn off the heat and allow to-sit for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally.
• Use as a bed to serve the pears on. Another option could be; some sliced banana or prepared dried fruit in the bottom of a dish, then the custard spooned on top.

Leftovers:

Will keep 2-3 days covered in the fridge. Once cold it sets and is very good with some maple syrup drizzled over, and a little nut cream on top.