Best 4 Pastry Nests With Poached Pears And Feta And Saffron Cream Recipes

PASTRY NESTS WITH POACHED PEARS AND FETA AND SAFFRON CREAM

Steps:

• Poach the pears: Place sugar, spices, lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a small saucepan. Add 3 cups/700 milliliters water and bring to a boil over high heat. Once sugar has dissolved, add the pears, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the ripeness of the pears), until they are soft all the way through. Set aside until slightly cool, then lift the pears out of the syrup and quarter them lengthwise. Remove the core and stalks and discard; return pears to the syrup to infuse overnight, or if that isn't possible, for at least 3 hours. (The longer they infuse in the syrup the more color they will take on from the saffron.)
• Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
• Make the nests: Place the kataifi pastry in a medium bowl and gently separate the strands. Pour the melted butter over and mix together well, using your hands to make sure all the strands are coated. Separate the pastry into 8 equal portions and then form each into nests that are a scant 3 inches/7 centimeters wide, piling the pastry up on the sides so the edges are taller than the base. Arrange nests about 1 inch/2.5 centimeters apart on the baking sheet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until golden brown and crisp, rotating the sheet halfway through. Set aside to cool.
• Make the feta and saffron cream: Place mascarpone, feta, sugar, saffron and its water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk until combined and smooth, then add heavy cream. Continue to whisk for 1 to 2 minutes, until light and thick. Transfer cream into a piping bag (if you have one) and set aside.
• Remove the pears from the syrup and reserve. Strain the liquid into a clean saucepan and add honey. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the mixture is thick and you have about 1/2 cup syrup left. Remove from heat, stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice and set aside to cool.
• When ready to serve, cut each pear quarter into 3 longish segments. Place 2 pieces of pear in the middle of each nest and then pipe (or spoon) about 1/4 cup cream on top. Place 1 slice of pear on top of the cream, so that it sticks up, and sprinkle each portion with a teaspoon of slivered pistachios. Drizzle a teaspoon or two of syrup over each of the nests and serve. Reserve remaining syrup for another purpose, such as drizzling over yogurt.

SAFFRON POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Combine wine, sugar, saffron and vanilla in a nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, over medium heat for 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, with a stainless steel knife, trim bottom of pears so they stand upright. Peel them, leaving an inch of the peel at the stem end. With the help of an apple corer or melon baller, cut out core and seeds, working from the bottom end.
• Add pears to poaching liquid and poach them, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes or until barely soft. Remove pan from heat and either let pears cool in poaching liquid and serve liquid as is or, cool pears in liquid for an hour only. Remove from syrup, then reduce syrup until thickened and concentrated; cool.
• Option: When cool, stuff cavity with fresh raspberries, stand pears upright in a bowl, drizzle syrup around pears and float raspberries and mint leaves over syrup.

EASY PUFF PASTRY TARTS WITH VEGETABLES AND FETA

Steps:

• Defrost the puff pastry in the refrigerator for two hours or for one hour on the counter.
• Prep the vegetables: slice the zucchini and the squash into thin slices and set them aside on paper towels to absorb the extra moisture. Slice the onion into thin rings and set them aside. Slice the tomato thinly and place on paper towels, topped with another layer of paper towels to ensure that most of the moisture is absorbed. When ready to use, slice each tomato slice into quarters.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
• Gently unfold the puff pastry from its package. Sprinkle some flour on a work surface and place a sheet of the puff pastry over the flour. Sprinkle additional flour on top. Using an inverted bowl, cut each sheet of puff pastry into 2 rounds, about 5"-6" (from the remaining puff pastry of each sheet, I also cut out two smaller rectangles). Place the pastry rounds on the prepared sheet pans and refrigerate while you work on the filling.
• Heat a large skillet to medium hot. Add some olive oil to coat and, once heated, add the onions, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sauté until soft and light brown. Remove the onions from the skillet and set aside.
• To the same heated skillet, add the zucchini slices, season with salt and pepper and sauté on both sides until golden brown. Remove from the skillet and set aside. Repeat this process with the yellow squash, making sure not to overcrowd the skillet. Once done, remove from the skillet and let them cool.
• Remove the puff pastry from the refrigerator and, using a sharp pairing knife, score a border around each round. Prick the area inside the border with a small fork to prevent the inside part from puffing up too much. Top each round with the onion, then the Feta cheese, and the slices of the vegetables in an overlapping pattern. Sprinkle the tops with some oregano and a drizzle of olive oil, then bake on the middle rack for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Allow the tarts to cool slightly on the pan before removing. Sprinkle with some flaky sea salt and serve warm or at room temperature.

POACHED SAFFRON PEARS

Steps:

• Soak the saffron in warm water and leave for an hour. Dissolve the caster sugar in the water and ginger wine in a medium pan. Turn up the heat and boil for 3-4 minutes before adding the star anise and orange peel. Turn the heat to low and add the pears, peeled with stalks left on. Press scrunched greaseproof paper lightly over the pears. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, occasionally turning.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Strain the syrup into a jug and stir in the soaked saffron and liquid. Pour over the pears. Cover and chill for 24 hours, turning once.
• Place each pear on a separate plate, drizzle over a little syrup. Serve with dollops of mascarpone.