This is another dish inspired by my in flight viewing of The Food Network. It was made on 'Ricardo and Friends', you can find the recipe by Googling his name and a combination of pear, caramel and trifle, or even by going on the Food Network website. I thought I was doing a good job of memorising it all on the flight but when it came down to it there were so many different parts to it that they had blended together in my mind. The recipe was easy to find, to save the day!
Now, I have said many times before that I don't particularly like recipes, this is a prime example of why, it was too sweet. The whole dish was overly sweet in my mind, and if I had been doing it myself I think I would have had control over that, but following a recipe you just go with it really, blindly obeying instructions. After tasting the custard and finding out it was so sweet I refused to put sugar in my cream even though it called for it, so I guess a small bit of rebellion happened but too late I fear. However, my husband loved it! Said it was the best trifle ever! I prefer the berry version with Sherry and jelly but each to their own. And don't get me wrong, the trifle was tasty, the components were divine, just a little too sweet which I am sure could be remedied.
Anyway, assessment aside, lets talk about how it came together. I woke up on Sunday, late, but no one needs to know how late! I knew we would be out in the afternoon and that the trifle needed to rest for the best results, so the plan of action was to make it all straight away, let it cool, assemble it then go out and come back to a ready to eat trifle!
I got out everything I would need to make it, cream and sugar and vanilla appeared a lot! The first thing I made was the custard or pastry cream as he calls it. Whisking flour and sugar together then adding 6 egg yolks! Yes, 6! Then slowly adding hot milk and cream and whisking until it started to boil, then removing it from the heat, adding vanilla and it is ready. Here in lies the problem of making things from scratch, instead of using lovely Birds Eye custard powder, you know how bad it is for you! Boo! Anyway, my beautifully thick, rich and creamy (but over sweet) custard is ready, I lay plastic wrap over the surface of it to prevent a skin forming and put it in the fridge to cool.
Next, the pears. Peel, core, and slice 4 Bosc pears. Make a caramelising solution in a frying pan (water and sugar) and add pears. I didn't let my water and sugar go brown enough i.e. there was still too much liquid in it, so my pears took about 15minutes to caramelise instead of 4-5. Lesson learnt. Let it go really brown before adding pears. I wonder if next time I would just bake them instead to avoid the sugar in the caramelising part, might help make it less sweet? Set aside in the fridge to cool.
Next, caramel sauce. Thorn in my side! 'Boil sugar, water and corn syrup until golden then remove from heat and add hot cream'. There is a lot of discrepancy in 'golden' really isn't there? The first time (yes there were multiple attempts ) I added the cream too early I think, it just looked like washed out tea! And was so runny! I know it thickens when it cools but this did not look right at all, it returned to the boil so fast and by the time I was meant to be done with it I was sorely furious at it instead. I tossed this batch done the toilet. I was then so flustered by the failure that I forgot to add corn syrup to my second attempt. I watched my sugar and water become a clear liquid and then all of a sudden it went crystally and in a flash was solid! The water had evaporated out completely! Add to my frustration. I chipped bits out and then soaked the pan and got another pan for my final attempt. I threatened my husband, who was an innocent bystander, that if this didn't work we were going to be caramel free in the trifle! He didn't know what the right response to this was and uttered something somewhat soothing. Shortly following this I realised the mistake of the missing corn syrup and felt full of confidence that this final attempt would work. I let the solution bubble away for quite some time till it got very thick/foamy/bubbly and finally added the cream. I was so confident (I have no idea why after so many failings?) that I decided to experiment and add some Rum! Rum caramel sauce sounded like it would work with pears, so why not!? Anyway, once the sauce had simmered for a minute, I took it off the heat and added a tbsp of Rum, and stirred it in. At this stage everything was still very runny, but after a while in the fridge (and then the freezer because I got impatient) it was fine.
Last thing was to whip some cream with vanilla and NO sugar!
Time to assemble. Custard, quartered lady fingers (biscuits, you can buy them in any store), caramelised pears, caramel sauce, whipped cream. Repeat. I let it rest in the fridge like this for several hours. When we were ready to eat it I drizzled some more caramel sauce on the top and added some toasted almonds. You want to let them cool before adding them. I used way more than the recipe called for but I like the crunch.
Verdict, too sweet, but everything was so decadent. I was thoroughly impressed with my creation. The sugar crystalised pot cleaned up just fine too which made my day! I think it was a bit of an overdose for someone sensitive to dairy too, but hey ho, worth a taste. I gave a huge bowl to my neighbour this morning so there was less for us to eat, and when you slave away at something, it's nice to share the love!
I still have lots of Rum caramel sauce, which I think would be nice drizzled over our frozen vanilla yoghurt or in coffee. But, there needs to be a gap before more of that kind of indulgence can happen I think. Next time I make this, I will try to make it less sweet and see if I like it more and if my husband even notices! About 1/4 of the sugar in the custard seems about right, maybe no caramel sauce except on the top, baking the pears instead? We shall see.
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