Pear stuffed with cream
October 6, 2011 • Category: Dessert
Pierre from the magnificent Pierre cuisine suggested a duo; we would each create a dish inspired by Lebanese cuisine and use one specific ingredient: Orange blossom water.
Apparently both he and I had memories of drinking it as a soothing herbal tea in childhood.
One thing was certain: Pierre was going to make something smashing! So head on over to his blog to check it out.
My idea was the following: Poach some pears in a light syrup. Core them and stuff them with custard cream. Coat them in fried kadaifi and serve them with chopped pistachios.
INGREDIENTS: 4 to 6 servings
- Custard cream: 1 1/2 cups of milk
- 1/2 cup of fresh orange juice
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tbsp of cornstarch
- 1 tbsp of orange blossom water
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 tbsp of unsalted butter
- 4 to 6 pears (firm)
- Poaching liquid: Water to almost cover the fruit
- 1 cup of sugar
- a squeeze of lemon on the pears
- Peel of an orange
- 1 cup of kadaifi
- 1/2 cup of clarified butter
- 1/2 cup of chopped pistachios
METHOD:
- Peel the pears and squeeze some lemon on them. Place in a large saucepan and pour the water and sugar over them; add the orange peel and bring to a slow simmer. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes or until they are soft. Cool.
- Beat the eggs and sugar till thick in a saucepan. Pour the milk and orange juice (less 1/2 cup of milk) and stir continuously; when the mixture starts steaming, add the remaining milk to which you would have dissolved the cornstarch. Stir continuously until thick, add the orange blossom water and keep stirring till very thick; add one tablespoon of butter and remove from heat. (If the cream curdles, plunge an immersion blender in there and smooth it out in a few seconds); cover with plastic (touching the surface) and place in the fridge to firm up and cool.
- Assembly: Melt the butter in a skillet and fry the kadaifi till golden. Transfer to a plate covered with paper towels to absorb the extra butter and dry out.
- Core the pears gently from the bottom with a sharp knife and a grapefruit spoon, leaving enough space for the cream. Inser the cream and place on individual plates. Coat with the kadaifi and surround with chopped pistachios.
NOTE: You can reduce the pear syrup till thickened and serve it alongside the pears.
Comments
34 Comments • Comments Feed
Rosa says:
This superb dessert remind me of a fruity version of kataifi!
Cheers,
Rosa
On October 6, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Priya says:
Wat an elegant dessert..
On October 6, 2011 at 11:54 pm
the indolent cook says:
That looks so gorgeous and unique… and those flavours and textures!
On October 7, 2011 at 12:08 am
la nonna says:
It is magnificent, thank you
On October 7, 2011 at 12:31 am
LaFrancesa says:
J’ai longtemps vécu à Marseille où flottait généralement une bonne odeur d’eau de fleur d’oranger près des boulangeries qui vendaient des “navettes”. J’en mets systématiquement dans ma pâte à crêpes. J’en mets aussi dans la pastilla marocaine, pas vraiment libanais comme plat 😉
Je connais très peu les “douceurs” libanaises mais mon mari qui s’y connaît (il va régulièrement à Beyrouth) m’en parle souvent. Il m’a aussi parlé de l’eau de rose et de géranium, on en a au fond du placard mais je ne sais pas trop quoi en faire.
On October 7, 2011 at 2:30 am
pierre says:
trop content d’avoir fait ce petit duo avec toi malgré les kilometres qui nous séparent ! au gout ta recette est topissime mais le visuel ne gache rien non plus ce kadaifi est tres inspirant !! et l’eau de fleur d’oranger … quel pouvoir d’imagination pour les amateurs culinaires que nous sommes !!
grosses bizz parisienne et merci encore pour ce partage !!
à bientot à Beyrouth !
Pierre
On October 7, 2011 at 2:49 am
Sonia aka Nasi Lemak says:
Wow, this look so tempting!
On October 7, 2011 at 3:55 am
Peter says:
Dunno Joumana, you’ve shared quite a striking dessert with this poached pear with a nice surprise in the middle. Sometimes less is more, nicely done!
On October 7, 2011 at 5:22 am
la fée carambole says:
magnifique, j’aime beaucoup, très succulent, j’adore
On October 7, 2011 at 6:25 am
Tall Clover Farm says:
Joumana, what a tribute to the stately pear, so often neglected by cooks and diners, alike. I love this recipe as I love pears.
And may I offer I one addition? (Tom, step away, too many cooks in the kitchen…oops, too late.) You could add one more ingredient in keeping with the beauty and deliciousness of Lebanese cuisine: a couple drops or light swirls of pomegranate molasses.
On October 7, 2011 at 6:43 am
Joumana says:
@Tall Clover Farm: Tom, you are invited any time to add your pomegranate molasses or any other molasses~ 🙂
On October 7, 2011 at 11:19 am
T.W. Barritt says:
That’s beautiful! The fried kadaifi looks excellent!
On October 7, 2011 at 7:00 am
Belinda @zomppa says:
Wow that is so elegant and delicious!
On October 7, 2011 at 8:10 am
Cherine says:
This is one fabulous treat!
On October 7, 2011 at 8:38 am
Chiara says:
It’s impossible to find here kadaifi….Lovely recipe Joumana,a hug…
On October 7, 2011 at 9:12 am
Nadji says:
On a envie de traverser l’écran.
A très bientôt
On October 7, 2011 at 9:13 am
Libyan Food says:
Wow, beautiful looking dessert! And I love the new way of using knafa. I have tried to come up with a savoury knafa recipe (like savoury basbusa which there was a crazer for in Libya a few years back) but I stuck to close to the original recipe, using thickened stock to replace sugar syrup resulting in a soggy mess. Your idea for using pre-fried knafa on a moist food is so much simpler and looks delicous.
On October 7, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Susan says:
This is a perfect dessert for fall with all of the lovely pears at the markets now! I am always smitten with desserts with pistachios. The kadaifi is something I will have to look for.
On October 7, 2011 at 2:14 pm
sare says:
Joumana, What a beautiful dessert. (I’m sure it’s delicious)
On October 7, 2011 at 3:04 pm
kouky says:
une superbe merveille!! visuellement et gustativement, au moment où les poires sont au summum de leur goût, ce dessert me tente beaucoup! merci Joumana!!
On October 7, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Sylvia@bascooking says:
What a fancy dessert !!! Is beautiful and I bet delicious
On October 7, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Eve@CheapEthnicEatz says:
I am not sure how much more smashing Pierre’s recipe will be, yours is hard t beat. Really creative Joumana. Its gorgeous too.
On October 7, 2011 at 6:45 pm
Hyma Bala says:
Oh Joumana….what an amazing creation! So delish. So, many new things to learn for me from your recipes. I jus googled and found about kadaifi…could you pls do a post on how to make this at home! Is it asking for too much:-)
On October 8, 2011 at 7:42 am
Joumana says:
@Hyma: Kadaifi is not made at home; it is made in special bakeries that have a machine that is rotating and drizzles the dough in concentric circles onto a hot iron plate; it is available for sale online and in a lot of supermarkets frozen.
@Sarah (Letters from the kitchen): Kadaifi dough is found in the freezer section in many supermarkets with a large ethnic population as well as at Greek or Mid-Eastern stores and online through many purveyors including Amazon I believe.
On October 8, 2011 at 8:17 am
Barbara says:
What a gorgeous photo that makes, Joumana! Such an elegant dessert and I adore the custard creme filling. Perfect from start to finish!
I love Pierre and just saw his marvelous fig gelee. What a pair you two make!
BTW: I thought Purslane looked much like watercress.
On October 8, 2011 at 9:00 am
Magic of Spice says:
Absolutely delightful! These are not only gorgeous but delicious every step of the way! Excited to see what Pierre came up with as well 🙂
Hope you are having a great weekend
On October 8, 2011 at 10:29 am
Sarah at Letters fro says:
I am so happy to have found your blog! This dessert looks exquisite, a work of art – almost too beautiful to disturb with a spoon. I wonder if I could find kadaifi here in the Northeastern US? I would love to try it!
On October 8, 2011 at 10:36 am
Sonia Rumzi says:
That looks amazing and delicious.
On October 8, 2011 at 4:27 pm
domi says:
Superbe présentation qui fera fondre tout les gourmands avec cette délicieuse gourmandise, c’est du grand Art, bisous et bon dimanche
On October 8, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Hélène (Cannes) says:
Vous vous êtes fort bien débrouillés, avec Pierre. Les deux recettes sont alléchantes ! J’aime beaucoup cette poire … On en trouve de très belles en ce moment et j’ai bien envie de faire comme toi. Reste à trouver ces vermicelles …
Bisous et bon dimanche
Hélène
On October 9, 2011 at 1:48 am
Alicia (Foodycat) says:
Stunning! This dessert looks amazing!
On October 9, 2011 at 5:39 am
Hyma Bala says:
Thanks Joumana for that info.Let me look around in the stores to get a taste of it:-)!
On October 9, 2011 at 9:54 am
Marina says:
J’adore!!!!!!
On October 9, 2011 at 1:54 pm
ça sent beau... says:
Tant visuellement que gustativement ta version est vraiment superbe. C’est très alléchant et je crois que je vais tester ta recette avec mes jolies poires du jardin.
Je suis totalement accro à la fleur d’oranger. J’en mettrai partout et je pourrai me baigner dans un bain de fleurs d’oranger. Malheureusement personne ne partage mon addiction à la maison !!
Bravo à vous deux pour votre créativité
On October 10, 2011 at 3:17 am