I’m feeling the winter this year. Not just the crisp cold and the snow falling on my nose. The love for seasonal food. The spices of chill days. The smells of cozy evenings. The taste of roasted pears. It’s the first proper winter I experience since a few years and the first one I embrace with my new-found love for food.
I’ve always been some kind of a foodie (thanks to my dad who lives to enjoy food) but I rather loved to eat out and let others cook for me. This has changed in the last year or so. Cooking brought me closer to the ‘here and now’. I live by seasons. I create with local produce only. And I crave my regular visits to the farmers market to pick fresh ingredients and watch other people doing the same.
Cooking also got me thinking. About food traditions in my family. I remember my grandma being an amazing cook. Or maybe it’s just some blurry childhood memories. Or her semolina pudding with an extra portion of butter is the reason why I still love sweet and creamy breakfasts and desserts. And her paprika chicken was amazing, but that is not an option for me anymore. There is also my dad pancake tower he would make on weekends. For him it was almost like a competition to make the pancakes (not American pancakes but more like French crepes) as thin as possible, spread each one with plum jam and stack them to build a giant cake. But despite my grandmas puddings and my dad’s pancakes I didn’t have any other memories of childhood food. Until I ate these sweet roasted pears with nuts. The taste, the smell, the emotions, everything reminded me of …well, ehm something. And then it dawned one me. We used to have this beautiful tiled stove in our tiny apartement. And during winter season my mum would make baked apple stuffed with raisins and nuts.
So there are these roasted pears, covered with crunchy walnuts, soaked in golden coconut syrup and baked with aromatic coconut oil. And there is this sweet tahini sauce and it’s slightly bitter yet nutty taste. The cashewcream gives a fresh and simple nod.
Roasted Pears With Cashewcream And Sweet Tahini Sauce
- Roasted Pears
- 2 large pears
- 4 tsp coconut oil
- 1/2 -1/4 cinnamon (depending on your taste)
- 4 tbsp walnut halves, chopped
- 4 tsp coconut syrup (or any other syrup)
- Tahini Sauce
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp syrup
- 2 tbsp lemon (or orange) juice
- Cashewgurt
- 1 cup soaked cashews (at least 4 hours)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 180°C
- Slice pears lengthwise into halves
- Remove core and seeds with melon baller or small knife
- Place pears on baking sheet
- Top with walnuts and sprinkle with cinnamon
- Drizzle syrup over each one and top it off with coconut oil
- Bake in the oven for 20-30 min
- In a small bowl mix tahini, syrup and lemon with a fork until smooth
- Put soaked cashews, water, lemon juice and vanilla extract in a high-speed blender
- Blend until thick and creamy
- Divide the cashewgurt among 4 plates and top each with a warm pear half. Drizzle each pear with some tahini sauce.
