La poire belle Hélène with freeze-dried plums

ingredients

• La poire belle Hélène with freeze-dried plums

  • 10 canned baby poached pears, plus 400ml of the syrup
  • 200 millilitre water
  • 4 tablespoon doris plum juice (from a can of plums – use the fruit another time)
  • 1 clove
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 2 tablespoon dilmah english breakfast tea
  • freeze-dried doris plums (we used the fresh as brand)

• Vanilla crème pâtissière

  • 1 vanilla pod, split in half
  • 100 millilitre organic milk
  • 1 free-range egg yolk
  • 40 gram sugar
  • 15 gram custard powder
  • 10 gram organic butter

• Chocolate sauce

  • 100 millilitre organic cream
  • 2 cloves
  • 1/2 cinnamon stick
  • 5 peppercorns
  • 50 gram dark chocolate (72 per cent cocoa)

method

• La poire belle Hélène with freeze-dried plums

  • 1

    In a pot bring poaching syrup, water, plum juice, clove, cinnamon, vanilla and tea to a simmer. Turn off heat and allow to infuse for 15 minutes.

  • 2

    Using a melon baller, carefully scoop out a cavity in the base of each pear. Pass the infusion through a sieve into a pot. Add pears and simmer gently for 1 hour. Turn off heat and leave pears to cool in the liquid.

• Vanilla crème pâtissière

  • 1

    With a small knife, scrape out the seeds of the vanilla pod and place in a small pot with the pod and milk. Mix together, then bring to the boil.

  • 2

    In a bowl, whisk the egg yolk, sugar and custard powder together. Pass the vanilla milk through a sieve onto the egg mix. Mix well.

  • 3

    Transfer to a clean pot and bring to the boil, whisking constantly. Cook for 2 minutes or until starch is cooked and crème has thickened. Mix in butter. Cover with plastic wrap, ensuring the wrap touches the surface of the crème to avoid skin forming, and refrigerate.

• Chocolate sauce

  • 1

    Bring cream, cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns to the boil, turn off heat and allow to infuse for around 10 minutes.

  • 2

    Put broken chocolate in a bowl and pass the cream through a sieve onto the chocolate. Mix with a spoon or whisk, then pour into a jug and keep warm.

  • 3

    Beat crème pâtissière with an electric whisk for 1 minute to lighten it up, then put into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle.

  • 4

    Take each pear out of the poaching liquor, drain and pipe vanilla crème into the cavity. Using a brush, brush a line of chocolate sauce onto each serving plate.

  • 5

    Put a pear at one end of the brushed chocolate. Pipe small mounds of vanilla crème along the chocolate path and top with crunchy pieces of freeze-dried Doris plum. Pour chocolate sauce over each pear and serve.

notes

Baby poached pears are available in some delis, however you can also use fresh pears. Go for the smallest pears you can find, peel and poach for around 40 minutes. Reserve the poaching juice to use as per the recipe. Once the pears have cooled, either quarter or cut into wedges, and pipe the vanilla custard in the middle where the core was.