PEARS ADD SUBTLE INTEREST TO MEALS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29521, 24 May 1961, Page 3

PEARS ADD SUBTLE INTEREST TO MEALS

By

“ ELIZABETH”

Pears are now plentiful and offer subtle ways of adding interest to a meal. Try them the savoury way sometimes, baked with beef. Try them flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon, topped with creme de menthe or with melted chocolate. Try them baked in a pie with seedless raisins and lemon juice.

On some cold evening make this generous Pear Shortcake with Ginger Sauce. It is a “cut and come at” family sweet to serve about six people.

Ingredients: 21b pears i teaspoon cinnamon i teaspoon vanilla i cup sugar 1 cup water 2 cups sifted flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 4 tablespoons sugar 6 tablespoons butter f teaspoon salt 1 beaten egg f cup milk A little melted butter

Sance: 1 cup icing sugar 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons cream 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallised ginger

Method: Peal and quarter pears and stew with cinnamon, vanilla, sugar and water until tender, but not squashy with overcooking. Sift flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and rub in butter. Beat egg with milk and cut in, combining to a stiff dough. Divide into two even sized pieces, or three if you haven't a very large round cake tin. Turn on to a floured board and pat out to rounds about l-3rd inch thick. Place one in a large buttered cake tin. Brush the top with melted butter. Lay second round in. Bake at 425 degrees about 25 minutes. Turn out, pull rounds apart and brush over with melted butter. Arrange a layer of pears as centre filling, and arrange others on the top attractively. To make sauce, beat butter until creamy. Beat in icing sugar and a little cream, beating to a soft creamy texture. Fold through chopped ginger and serve the hard sauce with the shortcake.

Lemon Sponge Tart Ingredients: The Pastry: lib flour 4oz butter 4oz lard 2 teaspoons vinegar 1 cup milk 1 teaspoon salt

Use one-third for this tart, saving two-thirds for the peach pie. The Filling: 2 eggs 1 teacup sugar 2 lemons

Method: Whisk egg whites with a small pinch of sait until ’stiff, sprinkle over the sugar and the juice of 2 lemons. Allow to stand while the pastry is being made. Rub butter and lard into flour and salt and mix with vinegar and milk. Turn out and roll one third to line a sponge sandwich tin. Crimp round edge and prick bottom. Beat egg yolks and fold lightly through the lemon and egg white mixture. Turn into the filled tin and bake in a moderate oven until the pastry is cooked and top lightly browned. ★ Spiced Peach Pie Ingredients: 21b peaches i teaspoon spice i teaspoon cinnamon 3 tablespoons cornflour 3 tablespoons sugar Juice of half a lemon 1 tablespoon butter. Method: Peel peaches and slice. Toss with mixed sugar cornflour, spices, and lemon juice and leave standing while the pastry is mixed. Line a large pie plate, fill with the peaches and dot •with butter. Cover with a pastry lid, make two gashes in the top and bake in a hot oven—4so degrees or regulo 8 for about 35 minutes. Sprinkle with sugar as it comes from the oven.

Ginger Mallow Pudding When the day is cold and cheerless, brighten up life with this hot and spicy ginger pudding. It is quick to make, all tossed together in a saucepan then baked in a sponge roll tin. Cut into squares, each topped with a toasted marshmellow, It iooks ks fascinatingly appetising as it tastes. Serve it with a jug of cream, for that makes all tihe difference in the world and this is a sweet w>hich deserves a favour.

Ingredients: 4oz butter i breakfast cup sugar

i cup golden syiiip 1 egg i cup milk i teaspoon salt If dessertspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon mixed spice 1 teaspoon soda if cups flour 12 pink and white marshmellows.

Method: In a saucepan place 4oz batter and half a cup of sugar and warm gently until the butter is melted. Add golden syprup. Cool a little and beat through one egg. Stir in milk. Sift in 1| cups of flour, ginger, spice, salt and soda. It makes a rather slack mixture. Butter a sponge roll tray and turn in the batter. Bake in a moderate oven—37s degrees—about 30 minutes. When firm when touched, remove from the oven and cut into 12 even squares. Place a pink and white marshmellow alternately on the squares and put under a grill just long enough to melt and brown the tops of the marshmellows. Serve immediately. Any left cold makes a delicious cake for tea. Watch when baking and reduce heat if necessary as overcooking spoils the flavour.

Baked Peach Scallop Ingredients: 4 half-inch thick slices of a large jam sponge roll. 1 tablespoon sugar. 2 eggs. 1 large tin or bottle of peaches. Pinch salt. 1 cup top milk Nutmeg.

Method: Cut slices of sponge roll in half. Arrange them, flat side to the bottom round an oval or round ovenware dish, their rounded tops forming a scallop. Whisk 2 eggs with 1 tablespoon sugar. Drain peaches well through a sieve and place peaches in the bottom of the dish. Add 3 cup of peach syrup and 1 cup of top milk to the beaten eggs. Add a pinch of salt and pour over the peaches. Dust with powdered nutmeg and set the dish in a larger pan of water. Bake in a moderate oven until browned and lightly set. Take from the water when it comes from the oven and stand to coo] and set firmly. Serve with cream.

Cheese Muffins Ingredients: i cup of flour 1 cup grated cheese 2 teaspoons baking powder Salt and pepper 1 egg 6 dessertspoons milk Method: Mix flour, cheese, baking powder and seasoning Add beaten egg and milk. Bake in buttered patty tins at 400 degrees. Place near the top of the oven as for seones and only half fill the tins. When nearly cold, split and butter. Cheese muffins may be given variety and interest by adding a little finely chopped cooked bacon, chopped onion cooked in a little butter, chopped gherkin or walnut. Additional grated cheese, or a mixture of grated cheese and chopped walnut sprinkled over the tops before baking add a delightful touch.

This recipe makes about 16 muffins.