Ndali Vanilla Gift Swap: Pear & Vanilla Jam

This is one of the gifts I took along to the Ndali Vanilla Event at Fortnum & Mason

Pears are a really hit and miss fruit for me. Buy them rock hard and you start the waiting game of the fruit bowl. A squeeze one day might be akin to fondling a rock. The same squeeze, another day, might leave you frowning and searching for a tissue.

Blush pears are one of my favourites. Ruby red and shiny. The contrast between that and their pure white flesh reminds me of fairytales. I hunted for blush pears for this recipe, hoping that some tinge of of their colour might seep into the jam, but settled for a mix of sturdy conference and dessert pears.

Ingredients

1.4kg peeled, cored and chopped pears (1.4kg prepared pears. I used a mix of firm dessert and conference pears)
600gr jam sugar (sugar with added pectin)
125ml water
2 Ndali vanilla pods, split and seeds scraped out

Makes around 2 pints jam

Method

1, In a large heavy based saucepan, add all the ingredients (except the vanilla) together and set over a low medium heat. Pop a couple of saucers in the fridge for jam testing later.
2, Heat and stir gently until the sugar has dissolved. Bring up to a rolling boil, add in the vanilla seeds and pods, stirring occasionally until the pear are soft.
3, Fish out the vanilla pods and blend 2/3 of the jam until smooth and return to the pan.
4, Test whether the jam is ready by dropping a small amount on a chilled saucer and leaving until cool. The jam should wrinkle slightly when touched. My jam measured a temperature of just over 105o/c on a jam thermometer.
5, Pour into sterilised jars, wipe clean and seal

Next time I make this jam, I will probably only use one Ndali vanilla pod, the quality and strength really surprised me!

Ndali Vanilla Gift Swap

Out of all the regular baking ingredients, I think vanilla is the most overlooked. I care about the humble free range egg, creamy British butter, flour and sugar. A fair price for our dairy farmers and their milk. Try and buy fairtrade chocolate and coffee etc when/where it is available. But vanilla? I've sloshed teaspoons of extract and paste here and there without really thinking about the source.

It wasnt really until Vanessa Kimbell wrote and spoke of her trip to Uganda with Ndali vanilla, that it pricked up a few ears and led me to research more into where our vanilla comes from. Vanessa has organised a Vanilla Gift Swap at Fortnum & Mason this afternoon and here is what I'll be taking. Recipes and full blog posts to follow.

Pear & Vanilla Jam

Vanilla Caramel Fondant Swirls

We Should Cocoa: Baked French Toast

This month's We Should Cocoa is hosted by Chele over at the Chocolate Teapot. She has challenged us to make something healthy for the new year. You can see the orange round up here.

I'm not going to lie to you. You already know that the word 'healthy' doesn't actually feature around here much. Cake, brownies, fudge, tarts, more cake, big cake, small cake, cakes made from soup, more brownies, donuts, and biscuits... And you would think that I am the size of a house. But I'm not.

The rest of the time, when I'm not knee deep in butter, I eat pretty healthily. Apart from the odd sneaky takeaway and swift meals out (drifts off into MEATliquor daydream), all our food is cooked from scratch at home. I cant actually tell you the last time I ate a ready meal. I run three times a week and take pole dancing lessons too. I simply believe in moderation. And I dont launch myself into a self loathing hate spiral if I demolish a packet of jaffa cakes. Stuff happens. Jaffa cakes happen. Deal with it.

I decided to take something that I love eating for brunch but limit myself on - French Toast - and try and healthy-it-up a bit. Baking rather than frying, egg whites only, fruit, very dark chocolate and some lovely seeded granary bread is the key. I based my recipe on this one, its perfect for a get ahead breakfast.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
6 slices of wholemeal granary bread
3 eggs whites
250ml skimmed milk
2tbsp honey
1tsp vanilla extract
1 pear - cored and chopped into chunks
Small handful of raisins
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
25gr dark chocolate - roughly chopped

Method
1, Spray a by baking tin with cake release spray and set to one side
2, Cut off the side and bottom crusts of the bread and chop these into small bite size chunks and put the chunks in a bowl and leave the slices to one side.
3, In a bowl or jug beat together the egg whites, skimmed milk, honey and vanilla extract until well combined.
4, Add the pear, raisins, ground cinnamon and dark chocolate into the bowl with the bread crust chunks and toss together until well combined.
5, Arrange the bread slices in the tin, interspersing with the dry pear/raisin/bread/etc mix.
6, Pour over the milk mixture evenly and cover with clingfilm. Pop this in the fridge for a anything over 8 hours. I left mine overnight.
7, Take the french toast out of the fridge and preheat your oven to 160o/c. Replace the clingfilm with foil and bake for 30mins covered. Then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes until golden brown and piping hot through.
8, Cut into slices and serve.

Blush Pear Tart

How pretty are blush pears? I’ve never been a huge pear fan and the photo doesn’t really do them justice but I love the contrast between the deep red flesh and the pale flesh! I wanted to showcase this and tart seemed the right way to go!

Patê Sucrée (Sugar Pastry)

100gr plain flour

25gr golden caster sugar

Pinch of salt

50gr butter

1 egg yolk

Tart Filling

2 or 4 blush pears, thinly sliced

4tbsp golden caster sugar

1 tsp good vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180o/c

1, Make the pastry by rubbing the cold butter into the flour, sugar and salt.  When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs add in the egg yolk with a fork and bring the pastry together to form a ball. 

2, Roll out the pastry to 5mm thick and add it into a 7inch loose bottomed tart tin

3, Brush the base of the pastry with the vanilla extract and arrange the pears.  Two pears should cover the base but if you like your filling a bit thicker do two layers. 

4, Sprinkle the golden caster sugar over the top.

5, Bake for 25 minutes.

6, Eat hot or cold!