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Last Month I wrote about the "Silichef Mystery Box Recipe Challenge", Silichef being a name derived from 'Silicon' and 'Chef'. This month another Silichef Challenge was posed for the food lovers that frequent the food forums of the Wine Lovers Page. Silichef II took a different format than Silichef I. Based on the 'Iron Chef' television program, which is not screened in New Zealand on free-to-air TV, it allows unlimited quantities of a single ingredient and the celebrity chefs have to create several courses using that ingredient. The rules for the Food Lovers Silichef Challenge were announced on the Food Lovers Discussion Forum, as follows -
But even with so much resource material on hand, there was a catch. While my better half has always liked pear, I have never been a fan - something about the gritty texture, perhaps. I would let them fall to the ground, feed them to the sheep, give them away. This was going to be a challenge. However, someone had suggested on the discussion forum that under ripe pears made a good crispy vegetable - just the inspiration I needed. The Challenge was a personal success and I've overcome my abhorrence of the fruit. Here are my successful recipes (I had a dud as well). I've included additional recipes as my own personal challenge to come up with inspirational ways to cook with pear, continues while the pears are in season. The Recipes Pear, cheese and tomato on toast. Thinly slice pear and tomato. Pear, smoked salmon and cream cheese cocktails. Variation one: Cut pears into cube. Cut smoked salmon into strips. Smear one side of salmon with cream cheese. Wrap around the cube of pear and secure with a toothpick.
Variation two: Slice pears into rounds across the core. Remove any hard bits from the core area. Spread pear with cream cheese and pile pieces of smoked salmon on top. Decorate with tiny sprigs of dill.
Serve as a pre-dinner cocktail with a glass of Champagne or New World sparkling wine.
Warm chicken salad with garlic oil flavoured pear and kumara crisps First make the crisps, which can be set aside while the chicken is cooking. Slice kumara into thin strips. Ditto for the pear. ![]() After some experimentation, I've concluded the following is the best way to prepare the pear crisps. The pear is quite watery, so place pear slices onto a paper towel, then place another paper towel on top and pat to remove as much excess water as possible. Now place the pear slices onto racks onto top of a baking tray. Mist with garlic-infused olive oil. Bake in a 200°C fan oven for 5 minutes. Remove and check the slices. If the air has been circulating well they should be cooked and dry, otherwise turn over. Turn the oven off and place pears back in oven for 2 minutes. Do not lave any longer or they will burn. The skins will have curled and will be quite crisp. Put aside until required. Prepare the chicken. Melt butter in a frying pan. Add chicken fillets and cook until tender, stirring well and allow chicken to become golden brown. Remove chicken from pan. Shred and return to pan to colour up the shredded pieces. Put aside. In the same pan, add about 1 tbsp butter and when melted add the kumara slices, frying for 2-3 minutes each side until golden. Drain off excess butter on paper towels. If desired, the kumara can be cooked in the same method as the pear. In this case leave the skins on before slicing. Onto each plate pile some salad greens, the red capsicum and a share of the chicken pieces. Form the pile into a volcano-like mountain. Arrange kumara and pear slices on top. This is a very wine friendly dish. I had several varieties of NZ wines open in the cupboard - dregs from my wine class and so on. We tried a Pinot Gris first, which wasn't as great as I had expected, but the Rieslings (2 of them) a Gewurztraminer and a Chardonnay were all good and I imagine the Sauvignon Blanc would have been too if it hadn't been so totally past it.
Pear and potato fritters. Grate the pear and the potato. Squeeze the gratings as hard as you can to remove excess liquid. Beat the egg and add to the gratings, stir in a tablespoons of flour and the salt and pepper. Form the fritters into desired shape (I had with fish, so formed into similar shape to the fish fillet). Variation: To make a hash-brown type of fritter for breakfast, a couple of tablespoons of grated cheese could be added to the mixture. I loved these fritters, which subtlely concealed the pear. The chicken and fritter were the best combo.
Pears in a blue cheese sauce. The key to this recipe is the simple sauce. Remove white rind from brie and discard. Chop brie into small pieces. Place into in a microwave (Pyrex) glass jug and added fresh cream to cover. Microwave on medium for 30 seconds or until cheese has mostly melted. Remove and stir well. Add a little more cream to give a runny consistency to the sauce. Microwave again for 30 seconds on medium, stirred again and repeat. Stir well. Cut up some pears into cubes. If using as a vegetable accompaniment to meat dishes, you may like to saute pears for a few minutes before serving, but fresh ripe pears are fine. Cover with the sauce. This is the basis for a Pear and Walnut Salad.
To some shredded iceberg lettuce add the cubes of fresh pears and a handful of chopped walnuts. use the blue cheese sauce as a dressing.
Thanks to Celia Callow for this idea.
Pork and Pear roll-ups (For 2) Beat pork schnitzels with a mallet until thin. Suggested wine Villa Maria Private Bin Gisborne Chardonnay 2000, a slightly oily, lightly oaked, pear and citrus flavoured wine. What was not used in the cooking was consumed with the meal - a perfect accompaniment with the flavours matching superbly. Note: it is important to use an unripe pear so it will hold its shape during cooking.
Poached Pears in marsala with whipped cream and caramelised pear strips. (For 2) Peel pears. Cut one pear in half and remove the core. Cut a piece off the outside of the pear so it will sit in flat in a dish with the cavity to the top. Prick the cavity side of the pears with a fork. Place pears into a small backing dish and filled the cavity where the core was, with marsala wine. Cover dish and baked the pear in oven at about 180°C until quite well cooked (about an hour), turning pears over once during cooking. With the other pear, cut into tick julienne-like strips, dip into beaten egg white and then into icing sugar. Melt butter in frying pan and fry each strip. This is quite laborious work and if the pieces are too thin, they will break up, but they end up being quite caramelised and delicious. To serve, place pear cavity side up in a dessert plate. Fill cavity with whipped cream. Pour remain sauce from the baked pears over cream and decorate with the caramelised pear strips.
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E-mail me: winetaster@clear.net.nz