Pear power

As the world celebrates Pear Day, city’s home chefs showcase their favourite recipes with the fruit

BENGALURU:

Pear  & FrangipanE Tart (Recipe by Bhuvaneshwari Devraj, @makeroomforbutter)

Ingredients

• Pear - peeled, cored, cut in half (lengthwise) 1  
• Pears - peeled, cored sliced (lengthwise) 2
• Frangipane  
• Shortcrust Pastry  
• A pie tray

For Shortcrust Pastry

• All-Purpose flour 1 cup  
• Unsalted butter 100 gm  
• Sugar 3 tbsp  
• An egg yolk  
• Chilled water, a few tbsp

Method

• Combine ingredients (except water) in a processor. Add chilled water and process just enough to form a dough. 
• Wrap dough and keep it chilled for a while (30 mins).

For Frangipane

• Almonds 1 cup  
• Unsalted butter 100g 
• Sugar 3-4 tbsp  
• Egg 1

Method

• Process almonds and sugar in a food processor. It should look like fairly coarse almond flour. 
• Add in the butter and egg. Process till it is creamy enough to butter a toast, but still a 
• little grainy.

For arrangement and baking

• Remove dough from the fridge and sprinkle some flour on a work surface. Roll out the dough to less than a quarter of an inch thick. Line your tray carefully. Roll out the upper crust and keep in the fridge.
• Blind bake your pie crust for about 15 mins (use the weight in parchment paper method). Once out of the oven, spread the bottom of the crust with Frangipane (just enough to get a decent layer). Tip this with sliced pears. Arrange them in a way that they create a flattish surface. 
• Place one half of the halved pears in the middle. 
• Remove the upper pie crust from the fridge and put it over the open pie, allowing it to take the shape of the halved pear. Carefully blanket everything and seal it in. Trim the edges. With any remaining pastry, make a tiny pear stalk and cut out a leaf (you don’t need a cutter for this). Arrange it on the pear as you like. Give the upper crust a decent egg wash. 
• Place the pie in a preheated oven (200°C) for about 30 mins or till golden brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool. 

Burrata, caramelised pear and walnuts (Recipe by Anurag Arora, @anuragarorra)

Method

• Add butter and sugar to a pan over medium heat. Mix them with a spoon as the butter melts 
• When the butter is bubbling, add pears to the pan. Get a nice brown colour on all sides.  
• Add spice mix and toss for 30 seconds making sure the spices don’t burn  Remove the pears from the pan leaving the liquid behind  Add 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar and cook for about 30 seconds to make a sauce  
• On a plate, add the sauce at the bottom, then the burrata, and finally the pears  
• Sprinkle some toasted walnuts and serve

Ingredients

• Burrata 1  
• Pear cut into wedges 1
• White wine vinegar/Distilled vinegar 1  
• All spice powder(grind clove, cinnamon, star anise in equal quantities) 1/2 tsp  
• Brown sugar 1 tbsp  
• Butter 1 tbsp

Upside-down Gingerbread Pear Cake

Ingredients

• Pears - peeled, cored and sliced (lengthwise) 3  
• All-purpose flour 1 cup  
• Baking soda 1 tsp  
• Baking powder 1/2 tsp  
• Milk 1/3 cup  
• Ground ginger 2 tsp 
• Cinnamon 1 tsp  
• Pinch of salt  
• A pinch of freshly ground pepper  
• A handful of candied ginger  
• Unsalted butter (melted), 1 stick +  
• For caramel 4 tbsp  
• Dark brown sugar 1/2 cup  
• Light brown sugar 1/4 cup + For caramel, 1/2 cup  
• Egg 1 large

For Caramel and Pears

• Melt 4 tbsp butter on stovetop and add/stir in 1/2 cup brown sugar to this.  
• Pour this mixture to the bottom of a greased pan.  
• Once this is done, arrange your sliced pears on top. Set aside while preparing gingerbread batter.  

For Gingerbread Batter

• Whisk together all the dry ingredients in a bowl.  
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the dark and light brown sugar, butter, milk and egg.  
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and whisk just enough to combine the ingredients (try not to overdo this).    
• Pour batter over pear and caramel. Be careful while doing so.
• Bake in a preheated oven (180°C) for 25 mins (or more, depending on your oven). Keep a serving plate ready. Once done, invert your cake onto this plate very carefully.