Succulent Pear

Pear and Cardamom Friand

Pears when they are ripe are wonderfully juicy and soft.  There is nothing quite like that first bite of lush sweet flesh, sheer bliss and there is nothing as disappointing as a firm crisp almost flavourless pear.  Ripe pears yield to a slight pressure at the top do not despair if all you can find are hard green supermarket pears as pears ripen well off the tree and a couple of days on the bench will enhance your eating pleasure.  Select pears that are clean, unblemished and free of cuts and bruises. handle gently.  For this recipe I was lucky enough to find some small organic pears perfect for fitting in my texas muffin tin and the moment I laid eyes on these beauties I knew exactly what they were going to become.



Pear and Cardamom Friand

6 small pears, peeled and cored
150grms ground almonds
225grms sifted icing sugar
75grms s/raising flour
a pinch of salt
1tsp ground cardamom
2tbspn poppy seeds
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
150grms butter
6 egg whites

Poach whole pears in a light sugar syrup.  1/4 cup sugar to 1 cup of water how much you need will depend on the size of your pot.  Make sure your pears are completely submerged use a saucer or small plate to hold pears down in the liquid.  10 minutes at a gentle simmer should see your pears poached.

Butter and flour 6 texas muffin tin.  A small circle of paper at the bottom is useful as these are a little tricky to turn out.  Heat oven  to 180C

Beat egg whites with the sugar, flour, ground almonds, poppy seeds, cardamom, salt and lemon rind.  Melt butter in a saucepan leave on the heat until butter develops a light brown colour and nutty aroma, cool and stir through the cardamom batter.   Evenly divide the batter into tins and top with a well drained pear.  Cook for 25minutes.