pears

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No-Bake Poached Pear Flan with Lime Cream: The Good Carbs Cookbook by Dr. Alan Barclay, Kate McGhie & Philippa Sandall

Good Carbs Cookbook

Images and recipes from The Good Carbs Cookbook by Dr. Alan Barclay, Kate McGhie & Philippa Sandall Murdoch Books RRP $$39.99 Photography by Alan Benson

 

No-bake Poached Pear Flan with Lime Cream

“Sometimes a traditional pastry crust just doesn’t do justice to a spectacular filling. This is one of those times. This no-need-to-cook food processor pastry is chock full of flavour, and is refrigerated so it can be prepared the day before. So too can the ‘creamy’ cheese filling. Each pear variety has its own personality in texture and flavour. Choose a mild and sweet variety with subtle, fragrant citrus notes – bartlett pear comes to mind.” p.224

 

No Bake Poached Pear Flan With Lime Cream

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes | COOKING TIME: 15 minutes | SERVES: 8

 

1 cup (65 g/2¼ oz) shredded coconut

100 g (3½ oz) hazelnuts or almonds

12 pitted soft dates, chopped

1 teaspoon finely grated ginger, plus
2 cm (¾ in) piece ginger, peeled

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 medium pears

½ cup (110 g/3¾ oz) caster (superfine) sugar

2 whole star anise

1 small lime, thinly sliced

2 cups (500 ml/17 fl oz) soda water (club soda)

 

Lime cream 

¾ cup (200 g/7 oz) ricotta

½ cup (100 g/3½ oz) reduced-fat cream cheese

½ cup (130 g/4½ oz) natural yoghurt

1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest

2 tablespoons warmed honey

 

Line a 23 cm (9 in) flan (tart) pan with baking paper with overhanging sides to make it easy to lift the flan out. Put the coconut in a food processor and blitz until fine. Add the hazelnuts, dates, finely grated ginger and cinnamon and pulse to a fine-crumb texture. Don’t worry if it is a bit more coarse than fine.

Tip the mixture into a bowl and, using your hands, clump it together and press it evenly into the base and sides of the prepared tin.  Refrigerate for about 20 minutes, until firm.

Peel the pears, cut into thick wedges and remove the core (leave the stalk on for decoration if you like). Put the sugar, peeled ginger, star anise, lime and soda water in a large pan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then reduce the heat to low and drop in the pears.

Cover the pan and gently simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the pears are just tender. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the pears to cool in the liquor. Lift the pears out with a slotted spoon and drain well.

Whisk together the ricotta, cream cheese, yoghurt, lime zest and 1½ tablespoons of the honey until smooth and creamy. Spoon the mixture into the flan and arrange the pears on top. Brush the pears with the remaining honey.

 

 

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Carol’s Bircher Muesli With a Trail Mix Twist

Did you know it is National Trail Mix day on the 31st of August?

To honour this auspicious occasion I have created my own breakfast parfait that incorporates a pepita  and hazelnut trail mix (my own special combination), pear, Greek yoghurt and rolled oats.

I have offered this to a few of my house guests and got a resounding thumbs up!  I will be regularly including this on our breakfast menu.

Carol's bircher muesli with a twist

This recipe serves 4.

 

Carol’s Bircher Muesli with a Trail Mix Twist

2 pears – cored, skin on, roughly grated

100g oats (not quick oats)

100g Trail mix – a mix of hazelnuts, walnuts, pepitas, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and almonds

½ teaspn ground cinnamon

200g full fat Greek yoghurt

200ml of cold water

 

Method

Roughly chop Trail Mix.

Place grated pear, oats, half the chopped Trail Mix and spice into a large bowl.

Mix well.

Stir through the yogurt and 200ml of cold water.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

To serve – place in a parfait/dessert bowl etc

Top with leftover Trail Mix.

 

trail mix

 

 

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Pear, Hazelnut and Ginger Granola: Real Food Projects – Kate Walsh

Real Food Projects

Recipe and images from Real Food Projects by Kate Walsh [Murdoch Books] photographer Cath Muscat.

PEAR, HAZELNUT & GINGER GRANOLA 

 

MAKES: 1 x 1 litre (32 oz) jar

“Learning the simple art of making granola will wean you off supermarket breakfast cereals forever. And there is something so satisfying about the sweet smell of toasty granola fresh out of the oven. Making it is a regular ritual in my household, so there is always a huge jar of it in the pantry.

 

Granola

 

INGREDIENTS

 

1 free-range egg white

1 tablespoon cold water

1 tablespoon light-tasting vegetable oil

90 g (3¼ oz/¼ cup) honey

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

145 g (5 oz/1½ cups) rolled (porridge) oats (not the instant or quick-cooking variety)

100 g (3½ oz/½ cup) quinoa

40 g (1½ oz/¼ cup) pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

75 g (2½ oz/½ cup) hazelnuts, skins removed, roughly chopped

135 g (4¾ oz/¾ cup) dried pears, diced

110 g (3¾ oz/½ cup) unsugared crystallised ginger, cut into bite-sized pieces
METHOD

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC (315ºF) and line a large baking tray with baking paper. It’s best to use a tray that has sides, so the granola doesn’t spill out everywhere.

 

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg white and water until slightly foamy. Add the oil, honey and vanilla extract and give it a good stir.

 

  1. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the dried pear and ginger. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, making sure all the ingredients are well coated.

 

  1. Evenly spread the mixture over the lined baking tray, making sure the layer is no more than 1 cm (½inch) thick, otherwise the granola won’t crisp up nicely.

 

  1. Toast in the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes.

 

  1. Allow to cool to room temperature, then break into small pieces, into a large clean bowl. Mix the dried pears and ginger through.

 

  1. Transfer to a large jar or airtight container and store in the pantry. The granola will keep for up to 1 month.

 

 

HOW TO USE

  • Add melted butter and extra honey and press into a tin for granola bars.
  • Bake without the nuts and serve as a healthy snack for kids’ lunchboxes.
  • Increase the amount of dried fruit and use as a healthy trail mix.
  • Use the same process, omitting the grains and increasing the amounts and variety of nuts and seeds for a paleo granola.”  (p.18)

 

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Manjimup Famers Markets – Holiday in WA

Today we experienced the warmth and passion of the local producers and farmers selling their goods at the Majimup Farmers Markets. Such friendly stall holders; these are the people who grew or made the produce or collected the eggs…food with a genuine low food mile and so fresh!  For breakfast we had  toasted sour dough bread, free range eggs, freshly picked apples and pears (some new varieties to try) … for use in the week we have  freshly harvested potatoes,  fresh garlic grown within 8kms of the markets, LovingGift Organic dark chocolate and a jar of fermented vegetables…so much great produce, we couldn’t carry any more! During the week we are purchasing more apples and pears from the orchard to take home with us; fresh, crisp,delicious.

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