Meringue with poached pears and salted caramel. An airy dessert, with aromas and flavors straight from the heart of autumn. A light meringue, a buttery and clove-scented pear, and a lovely caramel. Guest star? A little grated bitter couverture.
This particular recipe is the result of my two failed attempts to make a pavlova. So the original plan was to make a pavlova which will have a chocolate mousse in the center and poached pears on top. However, the old oven in the village did not do me the favor of baking the meringue properly. The first time the meringue burned. Yes, it burned. I wouldn’t like to say more.
The second time the meringue for some reason spread and did not hold its shape. Her taste, however, was exquisite. Her only problem was her appearance. But since I’m a person who doesn’t stand for appearances, be it edibles or people, the meringue entered the plate and plan B began to unfold.
So I broke the meringue into smaller pieces and slowly started to put together a new dish from scratch. The main ingredient remained the pears, which were poached in a syrup flavored with clove. But since pears love caramel, it didn’t take long to put some butter, sugar and cream in a saucepan. Finally, the dilemma was one. Nuts or couverture? Or both? I didn’t have any nuts, so I omitted them and added some grated couverture. However if I had nuts I would have liked some roasted hazelnuts.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RECIPE
The recipe for poached pear and caramel meringue is an easy recipe to make. What might tire someone is the fact that three different preparations have to be made. The meringue, the pears and finally the caramel. But with the right planning, everything can be done quite comfortably. First we start by making the meringue, which takes a long time to bake. As soon as we put the meringue in the oven, we can start making the poached pears. Which is very, very simple. We will leave the caramel for the end. Making homemade caramel requires some care, especially when adding the cold cream to the hot pot of butter and sugar.
RECIPE NOTES
The preparation of the meringue involves some risks, which I will try to minimize by pointing the following:
- egg whites should be at room temperature
- first you have to beat the egg whites and then add the sugar
- in order to be sure your meringue is ready, turn the bowl upside down. The meringue should remain stable.
INGREDIENTS OF THE RECIPE
So if you want to taste this light and alternative dessert, then all you have to do is get the following:
- eggs
- powdered sugar, granulated sugar and cornflour
- butter, heavy cream
- pears
- cloves
- vinegar
For serving I chose to add some grated couverture. If you want, you can add some roasted nuts.
Meringue with poached pears and salted caramel
Ingredients
For the meringue
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup cornflour
- 1 tsp vinegar
For the pears
- 6 pears
- 1 tsp cloves
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup vinegar
- ¾ cup water
For the salted caramel
- 200 gr granulated sugar
- 90 gr butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
- 120 ml heavy cream, room temperature
- ¾ tsp thick salt
Instructions
For the meringue
- Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lay out a parchment paper and draw a circle on the paper using a round mold or a plate as a guide.
- Add the egg whites and salt to the mixer bowl. Beat on medium speed until frothy. We gradually increase the speed. Continue beating until satin peaks begin to form.
- Add the powdered sugar together with the cornflour little by little until the meringue becomes firm and shiny. Add the vinegar and beat for another minute or two. Stop stirring when the mixture becomes glossy and stands in the stirrer.
- With the help of a spatula, spread the meringue inside the circle we drew. Put it in the oven and immediately lower the heat to 150°C degrees. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the meringue to cool completely in the oven.
For the poached pears
- In a small saucepan, roast the cloves until they release their aroma. Add the sugar, vinegar, water and salt and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel the pears. Add the pears to the syrup and simmer for about 15 minutes or until soft. As long as they are boiling, turn them over regularly in case the whole part of the pear is not covered.
- Remove from the syrup and let them come to room temperature.
For the salted caramel
- Heat sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Sugar will form clumps and eventually melt into a thick brown liquid as you continue to stir.
- Once sugar is completely melted, add the butter. Be careful in this step because the caramel will bubble rapidly when the butter is added.
- Stir the butter into the caramel until it is completely melted, it will take from 2 to 3 minutes.
- Then, very slowly, add the heavy cream and keep stirring. Be careful once again while adding the heavy cream since the heavy cream is colder than the caramel and this will have as a result a bubble mixture. Allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and stir in 3/4 teaspoon of thick salt. Allow to cool down before using.
So this was my recipe for a dessert born out of nowhere. Meringue with poached pears and salted caramel. An airy dessert, with aromas and flavors drawn from the heart of autumn. Starring is a light meringue, a buttery and clove-scented pear, and a lovely caramel.
I would be thrilled to hear from you. Even more, if you make my recipe and post a photo of it. Just don’t forget to share your photo under the hashtag #tetisflakes. Please do not hesitate to comment below or contact me on Instagram, or Facebook or Twitter!
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