While I’m visiting my family in Japan, I have asked several blogger friends to blog-sit for me and today’s sitter is Charles from Five Euro Food.
It’s been a truly wonderful experience for me to learn new dishes and recipes from Charles. Originally from the UK but now living in France, Charles exposed and introduced many European dishes to me that I never knew about. It’s very exciting for me to follow his blog because I have never been to Europe and it’s always been a dream of mine. He is a nice supportive gentleman who answers each everyone’s questions with sincere care. His blog is like a cozy private cooking lesson and he creates a very warm atmosphere on his blog.
Charles not only makes very budget-friendly recipes that all of us can appreciate, but his recipes are very easy to follow with step-by-step pictures and clear instructions. Check out his Swedish Waffles and Gluten-Free Crisp Bread for example. He pays close detail attentions to his creations which is why his recipes are all very clear and well written. If you are a visual learner, you will love his video recipes with a cool British accent.
Now please welcome Charles with this easy and delicious French-inspired dessert.
*****
I’m a 29-year-old English guy, living and working in France for the past 7 years. I’ve always loved being in the kitchen – ever since making my first macaroni cheese for my family when I was about 7. I’m very honored to be here guest-posting for Nami today while she’s taking a well-needed vacation – I’ve been reading her site for many months now and really love the food she makes – such beautiful food and photography is always a pleasure to see. When she asked if I wanted to guest post for her I was very touched, but I just hope my dish can be as interesting, and appetizing as the wonderful things Nami normally posts herself.
I notice that it’s not so often that she posts desserts, and as I am English, I live in France, and my wife is Swedish, I had three different countries to draw inspiration from. I finally settled on something which I feel is wonderful in that it’s fast and easy to prepare, can be customized in any one of a hundred different ways and looks very impressive, plus everything sounds more fancy in French, right?!
The dish is also cheap to prepare, which fits in nicely in the theme of my site, FiveEuroFood.com. I knew I wanted to start blogging about my kitchen adventures – I also knew I wanted to have a creative outlet and a way of slowly improving my food photography. I figured making dishes to serve two or more people, for less than the cost of one burger meal in a fast-food joint was a worthy goal and so my site started from there.
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Flambéed Pear Purses with Caramel Sauce and Ganâche
Ingredients
For the “Purses”:
- 2 pears (ripe)
- 3 sheets filo pastry
- 20 g sugar
- 20 g unsalted butter
- 30 g unsalted butter (for brushing)
- 3 Tbsp brandy
For the Caramel Sauce:
- 180 g sugar
- 100 ml heavy (whipping) cream
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
For the ganâche:
- 50 g dark Chocolate
- 50 ml heavy (whipping) cream
Instructions
- Start by peeling, coring and finely chopping the pears.
- Next, melt the 20g of butter in a large frying pan and add in the chopped pears and 20g of Caster Sugar. Cook through for a couple of minutes until the pear juice starts to form a nice syrup with the sugar. At this point, pour in the brandy and allow to sizzle vigorously for a couple of seconds before setting it alight with a lighter or match. Allow to burn out, shaking the pan every few seconds.
- Melt the remaining 30g of butter for the purses either in a pan or placing in the microwave on high power for a few seconds. Cut the filo pastry sheets in half width-ways, so you get 6 pieces. Layer them on top of each other, brushing the top of each bottom sheet with butter before placing a new sheet on top. Once all three sheets are in place, brush the top again with butter.
- Preheat your oven to 220ºC (425ºF) and meanwhile place half of the cooked pear mixture into the centre of the pastry sheets. Bring the corners together and press gently at the top to form a small pouch or bag shape. Brush liberally again with butter and place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Repeat the process again for the second purse and then place into the preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until a rich golden brown.
- While the purses are baking place the sugar for the caramel sauce into a pan and melt over a medium heat, stirring all the time. When the sugar has completely melted down to a rich, brown sauce add in the cream. At this point the sauce will froth up a lot so watch out and stir well. When the bubbling has subsided add in the butter and stir until melted. Set aside and allow to cool.
- Next, melt the chocolate in another pan over medium heat, stirring all the time until completely melted. When ready, pour in the cream and stir well to blend. Place the purses onto serving dishes and serve the sauces with them. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar if desired.
This looks amazing Nami!
This sounds almost like millionaires shortbread with pears and brandy. Awesome combination
wow Nami!! You definitely know how to pick your guest bloggers! This looks absolutely amazing! Top Chef material for sure!! So delicious!
Oh yum! I love the pear purses plus the caramel is gorgeous
Yummy recipe….
These purses really look gorgeous!!!
Thanks for introducing us to Charles, nice meeting you Charles.
Have a great time in Japan Nami.
Nice meeting you too Reem – glad you enjoyed the post today 🙂
I read Flambéed Pear Purses and headed right over – these are so fun! Anything with pears and caramel is my kind of thing.
Congrats on your guest post, Charles! And hi to Nami, nice to meet you. Hope you have a great vacation.
I love this recipe because I am instantly inspired to make a savoury version of it with the pears but I want to add brie and drizzle with honey. MMMMMMMM! thank you for the inspiration, yet again!
PS. I love the easy math question instead of the usually undecipherable cat scratch letters that people put on. Thanks! 🙂
Thanks Eva – love the idea of brie and honey – maybe some walnuts too?
Nice! I have everything except pears and….oh, kitchen (under construction) to make this dish. I like your presentation too.
Hi Nami,
I am so happy to see Charles do a guest post here. I have recently discovered his blog and love his recipes. This looks like an awesome dessert! I have not yet worked with phyllo dough because I have heard one has to be really quick and skillful while doing so or else it can tear or dry up easily. But he really has inspired me with this post to give it a shot.
Hope you are having a relaxed and wonderful vacation with your family. Enjoy!
Such a scrumptious dessert idea! Thank you dear Nami for introducing us to Charles + his website. Off to explore his site now..
P.S. Hope you’re having a great vacation :).
Oh Charles! What a awesome dessert!!! Caramel AND chocolate?!?!! I can just see breaking into that pastry and having the pears roll around in the sauces. YUM! Love it! Great picture of you BTW! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Nami – I agree with everything that you said about Charles and his website! I love visiting Five Euro Food and Charles! Great post you two!
Thanks MJ – I think this would even work without the chocolate, but you can never have too much chocolate, right? 😀
Oh these pear purses are adorable & look just divine! I can just imagine the caramel sauce dripping on it. What a great Guest Post! Thanks for featuring this, Nami!
It’s so simple but looks really beautiful! Great recipe idea…
What a great recipe. Chocolate and pears are always a winning combination. And what a pretty looking dessert. And Charles, in your photo you look very ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’! xx
mmmmm…I have only recently joined Just One Cookbook and enjoy it and wait for it. 😀
After reading and trying to save your recipe I have also joined you. I live in Greece and have four hungry people plus myself to cook for. I am very excited to be able to make 5 Euro meals.