Pears Wrapped in Pastry with Crème Anglaise

These pears wrapped in pastry not only smell and taste amazing, they’re very easy to make and are ‘pear’-fect for serving guests.

The following is an excerpt from The Book of Pears by Joan Morgan. It has been adapted for the web.

How to Make Pears Wrapped in Pastry

Peel and core the pears as before, leaving the stalk intact, and rub them with lemon juice. Use shortcrust or sweet shortcrust pastry made in the usual way.

The following amount is plenty for four pears: 150g (5oz) plain four; 65g (21⁄2oz) butter; pinch of salt; a few tablespoons of milk; plus 50g (2oz) sugar if making sweet pastry.

Roll the pastry out fairly thin and cut into long strips about 2.5cm (1 inch) wide; also cut out a small square of pastry for each pear, large enough to make a base.

Push a small curl of lemon peel and an extra squeeze of lemon juice into the centre of each pear. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each pear so that it will stand on its base. Set a pear on the square of pastry and coil a strip of pastry around it (you might need more than one strip to enclose it completely).

Begin at the base and let the strip overlap a little as you wind it around the pear. Finish off at the top, moulding it around the bottom of the stalk. At the other end of the pear – the base – mould the pastry square to fit and neatly join with the coils.

Brush with milk, or egg and milk wash. Bake at 180°C/gas mark 4 for about 45 minutes, or until nicely browned. The result is a fragrant, melting pear, delicious served warm with cream or, better still, with crême anglaise – real custard.

RECIPE: Crême Anglaise

1 egg and 1 egg yolk beaten together with 75g (3oz) sugar in a bowl. Bring 300ml (1⁄2 pint) milk with a vanilla pod just to the boil, pour the hot milk over the eggs and sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Return to the pan and cook gently until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.