How to make: pear and pomegranate with sheep’s milk yoghurt

Confit de poire et grenade au yaourt

Pomegranates are a beautiful autumnal fruit but most people are never too sure what to make of them or how to use them. The red fleshy seeds can be added to salads or scattered over fruit for breakfast or dessert. In this recipe the seeds are cooked to make a syrup, which is then used to poach the pears, although you could poach just about any fruit.

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 Corella pears, peeled, cored and halved
juice of 1 lemon
250g (1G cups) caster sugar
2 pomegranates, halved, seeds removed
500g (2 cups) sheep’s milk yoghurt

Method

1. Put the pear halves in a bowl with the lemon juice and enough water to cover — this will prevent the pears from browning.

2. Put the sugar and 500 ml (2 cups) water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring at first to dissolve the sugar. Add half the pomegranate seeds and simmer for a further 1 minute.

3. Add the pears to the pomegranate syrup, then cover with a sheet of baking paper to ensure they cook evenly and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat and allow the pears to cool in the syrup. Strain and reserve the syrup.

5. To serve, place the pear halves in serving bowls and top with some yoghurt, a touch of the syrup and some of the remaining pomegranate seeds, to garnish.

Variations: If you cannot find pomegranate, poach 2 rhubarb stalks, trimmed and cut into sticks, in the syrup before you cook the pear and they will still acquire a beautiful pink tinge. Or use 1 tablespoon of passionfruit pulp per person for a similar effect. I also sometimes use a punnet of strawberries, cleaned, halved and poached for 2 minutes, instead of the pomegranate. You can also replace the pears with quince, strawberries or even rhubarb.

Taken from ‘French Kitchen – Classic recipes for home cooks’ by Serge Dansereau, published by Jacqui Small Publishing, £25