|
Le Cordon Bleu News, 05/01/2012
|
|
|
|
About this recipe
|
|
Awaken your sweet tooth with this deliciously soft pistachio cake and tender, subtly spiced poached pear.
|
 |
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 45 minutes
In this recipe:
- Pistachio paste
- Ground almonds
- Pears
- Cinnamon
- Licorice
|
|
|
|
Ingredients
|
- 16 cm loaf mold
- Pistachio cake:
- 125 g butter
- 190 g powdered sugar
- 65 g ground almonds
- 65 g flour
- 15 g pistachio paste
- 4 egg whites
- Spiced poached pear:
- 8 firm pears
- Syrup
- 1 liter water
- 500 g sugar
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 licorice sticks
- 2 vanilla beans (pods), split lengthways
- saffron threads
Return to top
|
Method
|
- Pistachio cake: In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter until it is nut-brown in color. The whey content will sink to the bottom of the pan and begin to brown. Be careful not to burn the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately strain the butter through a china cap sieve. Set aside at room temperature. In a bowl, sift the powdered sugar, ground almonds and flour and stir. Add a little egg white to the pistachio paste to soften. Add the remaining egg whites and softened pistachio paste to the dry ingredients and mix well. Then carefully fold in the nut-brown butter. Refrigerate the batter for at least an hour before use.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter the mold and pour in the pistachio cake batter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the cake is golden brown or until the point of a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Unmold onto a rack and set aside.
- Spiced poached pears: In a heavy based saucepan, mix all of the ingredients for the syrup together. Over medium heat, bring to the boil, and then reduce the heat and leave to simmer. Meanwhile, peel the pears and leave their stem in place. Remove the core from the bottom of the pear using a knife or apple corer. Place the whole pears in the simmering syrup; cook until a knife can be easily inserted into the center of the pears. Remove pears from the syrup and drain. Remove the vanilla beans and set aside for decoration.
- To serve: Slice the pistachio cake into thin slices. Place two or three slices on a plate and position one or two spiced poached pears next to the cake. Decorate with a few drops of syrup and a halved vanilla bean.
Note: The cake batter can be made the day before. You can use a savarin mold or any other shape you choose. To serve, the pears can also be quartered.
Return to top
|
|
|
Find out more...
|
More recipes
|
- Seasonal market salad, crisp vegetables with herb jelly and baby beetroot, gourmand vinaigrette
A completely vegetarian recipe which includes several different new season’s vegetables to welcome in the springtime. An herb jelly adds an extra touch of natural texture and flavor.
- “kimy” chocolate and hazelnut tartlets
It’s almost the Easter holidays! Now is the perfect time to have a go at making a pastry recipe. Why not try this one using the season’s star ingredient, chocolate?
- Quail consommé flavored with celery in puff pastry
This recipe demonstrates clarification, a French cuisine technique, which gives a clear double strength consommé with intense flavor.
- Iced meringue, champagne sorbet and “biscuit rose” powder
French meringue, sorbet and Chantilly cream, are three essential culinary techniques found in this recipe. A combination of subtle flavors and varied textures from a crisp bite to melt in the mouth, this superb dessert will surprise and instantly refresh your palate.
- Seared scallops with truffle shavings, butternut squash purée, creamy sauce with truffle
This recipe incorporates two very refined seasonal products, scallops and black truffle. Butternut squash offers a perfect accompaniment thanks to its sweetness of flavor.
|
Quick Links
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pistachio cake with spiced poached pear by Le Cordon Bleu International BV, all rights reserved
|
|
FIND US ON FACEBOOK
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER