Dark Chocolate 'Fondue' Ball

• Tempered Dark Chocolate Sphere
• Filled with Salted Almond Crumb
• Spiced Poached Pear
• Citrus Cake
• Vanilla Cream
• Chocolate Filigree
• Warm Caramel Sauce

The idea of this dessert is to have the warm caramel sauce separate, then pour it over the chocolate balls at the table to the chocolate begins to melt, showcasing the filling and creating a chocolate sauce for the plate. 

Skills - Post Secondary Cooking Hot Appetizers

Hot appetizer creations from cook ng group two on day one. Required ingredients were Cornish hen and Anjou pear; and plates had to contain a fruit sauce and at least one garnish.

Cornish hen filled with spinach and herbs, sauteed spinach,
toasted almonds, shallots, olive oil poached tomato, orange
phyllo crisp, pear tarragon fluid gel, pear gastrique.

Smoked hen breast, pear tortellini, sunny side up egg,
beurre noisette with apples and pears, pressed pear discs.

Almond crusted ballontine of Cornish game hen, parsnip puree,
spiced apple chutney. haricot vert, Anjou pear hen gastrique.

Cornish hen ballontine stuffed with fruits, pear sauce, sauteed spinach.

Cornish hen stuffed with boudin blanc, cauliflower puree,
seared cauliflower, pear lemon sauce. 

Stuffed Cornish hen leg with herbs mousseline and pear port gastrique.

Roasted Cornish hen gallontine stuffed with pear
red pepper and thyme served on a bed of brown butter couscous,
 topped with fried leeks, and drizled with Anjou pear sauce.

Seared half breast of Cornish hen, gruyere and apple stuffed half leg,
quinoa chive crisp, pear and balsamic gastrique.

Ginger Pear Sorbet

Tonight I participated in an eight course tasting menu, and one of my responsibilities was to make the sorbet course as a palate cleanser between the fourth and fifth courses. I decided to go with ginger pear for my flavor. I served a scoop of sorbet in a hazelnut lacy tuile cup, garnished with some strips of candied ginger.

Ginger Pear Sorbet
50 ounces fresh, overripe pears, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
one bulb fresh ginger, peeled and minced (about 2 Tablespoons)
4 1/2 cups white wine
3 cups granulated (white) sugar
2 Tablespoons lime juice

Place the pears and ginger in a wide, shallow saucepan and cover with wine, sugar, and juice. Cover and bring to a boil. Boil for about 20 minutes until slightly reduced. Purée through a high power blender until smooth, then pass through a china cap to strain. Pour liquid into a shallow metal pound and freeze until mixture is cold, a few hours. Pass mixture through an ice cream machine, then freeze again to firm up before scooping.

This is a super simple sorbet recipe and it's really, really delicious! It tastes of fresh pear with a hint of ginger and a refreshing taste of wine. I just used a basic salted cooking wine, but if you can, splurge on a better quality wine and add a pinch of kosher salt to the mix. Overripe, mushy pears are fine, and even ideal for this. This recipe need not exact, it is pretty forgiving. One batch makes around two quarts or sorbet.

Molasses Pear Muffins

There are endless muffin possibilities out there, but we tend to favor the common ones a lot; banana, blueberry, chocolate chip, raisin bran. I was looking to make a little something different, so I came up with this somewhat unique combination - molasses and pear. These muffins are moist, spicy, and plenty sweet. 

Molasses Pear Muffins
1/2 cup oil
1 cup molasses
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 can pear halves

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease or line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl beat the first four liquid ingredients well. Stir in the next seven dry ingredients, followed by the flour. Divide evenly among muffin cups.
Cut the pear halves in half and pat dry. Place one slice on top of each muffin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Old-Fashioned Pear Dessert

The final post in my pear entries, and definitely my favorite (although my sweet tooth may bias things a little) - dessert: old-fashioned pear dessert to be precise. Really it's a pear tart with a nice crumble on top. This dessert consists of a rich, buttery tart shell, piled high with fresh sliced pears, drizzled with a sweet, thick caramel sauce, and topped with a buttery, sugary crumble containing a few chopped, toasted nuts for added texture and flavor. I bet a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream would go lovely on a hot slice, but it isn't necessary. This tart is good cold as well, perhaps even for breakfast. We made a double recipe, which made three large tarts. Here is the step-by-step process:

1. 1. Make the tart shell crust and line three greased and floured tart pans. Parbake the crusts for about ten minutes.
2. 2. Meanwhile, peel and slice the pears and combine with a little cornstarch.
   
3. Make the caramel filling.
   
4. Make the crumble topping.
5. Divide the pears evenly among the hot crusts.
6. Drizzle with caramel sauce.
7. Top with crumble.
   
8. 8. Bake again until golden, hot, and bubbly. 
9. 9. Allow to cool for a few minutes to set up if you can stand it, then dive in!
   

Pear Buckwheat Pancakes with Pear Caramel Sauce

Perhaps I should have featured this pear dish first - breakfast. However, it is sweet enough to be served as a dessert as well, but dessert will follow tomorrow. This recipe is spiced pear buckwheat pancakes with pear caramel sauce and mascarpone cream. The pancake recipe is a basic buttermilk pancake recipe, with the addition of a little buckwheat flour for some extra heartiness and some chopped pear into the batter. They are then topped with a sweet, decadent pear caramel sauce - which is basically a caramel sauce made with honey and candied ginger, with again some chopped pear. Alternately, a pear compote could be used instead. The pancakes are then topped with some mascarpone cream, which is really simply a mixture of mascarpone cheese and heavy cream whipped together with a little lemon zest. For an attractive presentation, use a long plate and layer the pancakes on the plate. Drizzle with the caramel sauce and top each pancake with a swirl of the cream and a twirl of lemon zest. 

Grilled Pizza with Pear

Here is the main course in my four course pear installment: grilled pizza with pear, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and caramelized onions. It is literally as simple as it sounds, yet the flavors combine so well together and makes a delicious, thin-crust pizza. It isn't your typical tomato-sauced pizza, or a thin crust triangular pizza slice, but it is something spectacular.
Any type of pizza dough of your preference may be used, but I recommend rolling it relatively thinly - thick enough to hold up the toppings but no thicker. Grill the pizza crust; it is fine if the dough is neither a perfect circle nor a perfect rectangle - it won't matter. Then top the pizza in any fashion you wish, using rings of caramelized onion, thinly sliced pear, thinly sliced fresh mozzarella balls, some arugula leaves, and prosciutto. Then bake at 450◦F for about ten minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted. Then cut into bite-sized squares and eat a bunch of them! Arranging them in a staggering pattern on the platter is easy to do but really upscales the presentation factor. 

Bacon and Blue Cheese Sliders with Pear Ketchup

This is the first pear dish I shall feature - the appetizer. Here, the pear stars in the condiment on top - the pear ketchup. It sounds a little different and unorthodox, but using pears rather than tomatoes to make a ketchup yields a sweet, pleasant result. The appearance is more like applesauce than ketchup, but the taste is sweet and tangy. There are strange foods like bacon jam and pineapple relish, so why not pear ketchup? The ketchup is the only condiment you will need for these bite-sized, miniature burgers; no mustard or relish required! 
These burgers are actually based upon challah bread, a sweeter, rich bread, but when sliced as it is here, it works for these burgers. You could of course use miniature hambuger buns instead, but I think these special burgers require a fancier bread. Toasting the bread is definitely a smart step as well. The actual burger itself is literally just bacon crumbled together with blue cheese. Surprising, but with just two ingredients, these burgers pack a lot of punch - no further seasoning required. The texture is surprisingly pleasant and satisfying too, you would think you are biting into a pork patty. Pear and pork pair well together. These miniature burgers also have a short cooking time - a quick sear in a skillet and finished off in the oven. 

The pear jam is a mixture of pears and onions, sautéd together until soft, then combined with some apple juice, vinegar, and seasoning. The mixture is then puréed until smooth. These burgers then just need a few simple garnishes - a leaf of arugula, a cherry tomato half, or a little extra blue cheese.

Pear Season

We are coming upon pear season now. Fresh, juicy ripe pears - often compared to an apple but actually quite different in flavor. Apples seem to be a staple year-round, but pears are often savored in their prime fall season. There are several varieties of pears, from the familiar Bartlett to rounder Anjou to red pears. Many people do not know how to recognize a ripe pear. When ripe, pears are soft and juicy and sweet. When under-ripe, they are firm and starchy and more like an apple. Pears ripen at room temperature after picking, but then must be refrigerated and enjoyed rather soon. Pears are excellent sources of fiber, even more so than apples, especially with the peel, which is often thinner than an apple peel and may be left on during baking. Pears pair well with flavors such as soft cheeses, pork, ginger, hazelnuts, chocolate, and caramel. 

Recently I attended a pear cooking class demonstration where we made and enjoyed four different dishes all incorporating pears. I will feature these dishes in the days to come, but for now, here is a sneak peak. I will definitely be making more pear dishes in the future, as I am trying to develop an excellent pear dish to enter in a competition. I also received several new recipe booklets with pear recipes that all look tantalizingly tasty!