Can you imagine Mary and Joseph’s delight had King of Nordic cuisine, René Redzepi, visited them bearing this dish as a gift, all those years ago? If it were us, we would have arranged a rave review in a certain world-renowned textto applaud its culinary excellence, but that’s another story entirely…
One for dessert, this Pear Tree dish features Clara Friis pears which are natives of René’s homeland, Denmark, and demonstrates his passion for using locally sourced ingredients in his new-wave,modern Nordic cuisine.
If you’re planning on presenting this to your guests on Christmas day, why not play around with the ingredients a little andpay homage to René’s eco-warrior status by selecting fruits that are local and in season, wherever in the world you may be.Just be sure to adjust cooking times accordingly and mention its Michelin-star status for added ‘wow-factor’ when plating up…
Ingredients
Pear sauce
500g Clara Friis pears, peeled and cored
10g pear aquavit
1g citric acid, plus extra
Thyme oil
Grilled pears
2 Clara Friis pears
Grapeseed oil
25g thyme oil
Juniper berry salt
10g dried juniper berries
30g salt
Aerated spruce parfait
4 gelatine leaves
270g egg yolks
180g water
40g spruce shoots
75g spruce needles
67g sugar
20g fondant
255g cream
20g spruce oil
To serve
1 Clara Friis pear
Verbena leaves
Lemon thyme sprigs
Bronze fennel tops
Heather flowers
Unripe juniper berry skins
Method
Pear sauce
Vacuum-pack the pears, aquavit and citric acid and cook in a water bath at 80C (175F) for 30 minutes. Cool, then blend to a smooth purée. Pass the purée, adjust the acidity with a pinch of citric acid and keep in the refrigerator.
Grilled pears
Peel the pears and cut off each side as close to the core as possible. Brush the cut side of each pear with grapeseed oil and chargrill (charbroil) until blackened. Drizzle thyme oil over the grilled sides and place in an airtight container to marinate. Peel away the charred surface of the pears and keep warm.
Juniper berry salt
Crush the dried juniper berries in a spice grinder. Sift, then return to the spice grinder, along with the salt. Gently pulse to mix and keep in an airtight container.
Aerated spruce parfait
Bloom the gelatine. Blend the egg yolks, water, spruce shoots and spruce needles in a Thermomix at 80C (175F) until warmed through. Strain, then combine 220g of this mixture with the sugar, fondant and bloomed gelatine and whisk at high speed in a stand mixer until it becomes stiff and frothy. Whip the cream, then fold in the frothy egg mixture. Combine 120g of this mixture with the spruce oil, then pour into a Food Saver container. Place in a vacuum machine and aerate. Freeze for 4 hours before opening the Food Saver container, then cut into portions.
To serve
Put the plates in the refrigerator to get cold. Split the pear sauce with thyme oil and swirl onto the cold plates. Thinly slice the Clara Friis pear and place 1 slice on top of each warm grilled pear. Decorate with the herbs, flowers and juniper berry skins and carefully lift onto the plate. Add the aerated spruce parfait and season with the juniper berry salt.
