Poached Pears in Spiced Pomegranate Syrup

Recently, Mrs Bean informed me she was scared of poaching pears! WHY?! I asked, a little confused. My dear friend and co conspirator confessed that she had never done it, and after watching Masterchef was afraid of her fruit becoming too mushy or being too hard. I don't watch it and had not witnessed the torture this simple thing had created for the contestants. Forget those pompous sillies on Masterchef my dear. Poach away. And if it is a little too mushy, who cares. George  and Gary will not be there peering and prodding! Matt will not be tasting and tutting!  I shake my wooden spoon at you fellows, scaring good cooks from venturing into poaching! After watching me do it recently, she admitted it looked easy enough... So this is for you my dear Bean, have no fear!

I like poached fruit in winter, but I'm not a huge sweet tooth so overly sweet syrups don't appeal to me. I like putting seasonal fruit together, and since buerre bosc pears and pomegranates are currently in season, they matched together beautifully.  If you can't get hold of a pomegranate, you can substitute the pomegranate juice sold in the supermarket (you may have to omit the sugar or the syrup could be too sweet). Pomegranate molasses are usually available from Indian or Lebanese grocers, health food shops, or delis. This recipe has lovely sweet pears in a tangy, spiced syrup that will warm you to the toes. And if George or Gary or Matt happen to pop by for a poached pear, bat them away with your spoon!

Because the syrup is so tart, I didn't want the pears to lose any sweetness, hence the first cook in water. It also makes it easier to gauge how firm/soft they are, and not keep checking the fruit. By leaving them to continue cooking with the heat off means you don't have to worry about poking your fruit constantly so that they end up looking more like swiss cheese! Then you can finish them off later without the stress ( if you have watched Masterchef and also stress about poaching LOL).

Ingredients

4 buerre bosc pears

1/4 cup pomegranate molasses

1/4 cup water

juice from 1/2 pomegranate

seeds from 1/2 pomegranate

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 tsp mixed spice

splash lemon juice

Method

Fill a medium saucepan with water and a splash of lemon juice. Peel, halve, and core the pears. As you peel and core, slip them into the saucepan so they don't discolour. Make sure they are fully covered.

Bring the pan to the boil and leave the pears for approximately five minutes. Turn off the stove, and leave the pears for about 20 minutes in the saucepan. They will continue cooking as the water cools. Strain, and leave aside to cool completely. It is ok if at this point they are still a little firm, as you will heat again in syrup.

To make the syrup, but the water, molasses, pomegranate juice, sugar, and spice into a pan and bring to the boil. Turn down to low and put the pears back in, ensuring the syrup has been splashed all over them, and cover, leaving on a simmer for about 5 minutes. Test the pears with a skewer or tip of a knife, they should be soft enough to easily slide the knife tip or skewer in. If they are still hard, leave a little longer. Serve immediately as is, with fresh pomegranate seeds.

Tempura Salt & Pepper Watermelon

I haven't been very inspired of late, feeling pretty worn out and looking forward to a holiday next month and a bit of a break. Sometimes you just get in a rut of cooking the same old quick dinners. But, I did have a flash of inspiration today and decided to try making tempura watermelon. When I told the Beloved I would be making this he didn't seem very enthused, and thought it was a bit weird. Well, I am weird. How would any culinary masterpiece have ever been born if someone didn't make something that everyone else thought was weird?! To be honest I didn't know if it would work with such a high water content, but it did, I have a trick or two to share with you in how to make it work. Since making tempura mix from scratch never quite works for me I decided a packet option was probably best. While I was frying them the colour reminded me of crab sticks but without the terrible smell! Obviously they taste nothing like crab...

Ingredients

Approx 4 pieces per person of watermelon cut into thick fingers about 6-8cm long 

1 packet of tempura mix ( I used Trident, its vegan)

salt and pepper to your taste

Oil for deep frying

Method

Cut the watermelon and leave on a tea towel to mop up excess liquid. Pat just before dunking to dry as much as possible, or the mix will not stick to the melon.

Make up the mix according to packet directions, but add water a little at a time to get a nice thick batter, too thin and it won't stick. I found the best consistency after trial and error was like pikelet batter, quite thick, but runs off the spoon like treacle rather than cream. Whisk in plenty of pepper and a bit of salt. 

Heat oil in a deep fryer or small deep saucepan at (I have a fryer but used a saucepan as easier to clean). If you use a saucepan the oil should be no less than 4cm deep and no more than a third deep of your pan - safety people!  If you are unsure about temperature I suggest dropping a little batter in to see how quickly it bubbles to the surface. If it turns golden in 30 seconds you're ready.

Dip the dried off watermelon into the batter and coat as much as possible (no need to be too picky) and drop into the oil quickly. Fry until golden and then remove with a slotted spoon and leave to drain on paper towel. Sprinkle with a little more sea salt and cracked black pepper.

If you find the pan spits it is probably because you have not patted the watermelon enough and there is water getting into your oil! therefore it is essential to work quickly so the watermelon doesn't seep again before you batter and fry.

We had ours tonight dipped into some lime mayonnaise, but they were good without it. You cna use soy mayonnaise or egg mayonnaise whisked with some lime juice to your taste. Serve with a side of fried rice.

I really like the sweetness of the watermelon with it's firm light texture,  and the crisp peppery batter. Don't knock it til you've tried it!