I swear pear trees are related to the zucchini vine somehow because they are both so prolific. As with most of my recipes for events I always raided my parents’ garden before I came up with ideas what to serve folks. Dad and Mom purposefully planted as many fruit trees they could on the property so that no matter what time of year, there was fresh fruit for us children to munch on, and it was food that wasn’t made in a lab. My parents had four different types of pears in their garden … yeah, that’s a LOT of pears. My dream one day is to have a garden big enough to do the same. Cool-morning picked fruit for breakfast is a taste stores can’t replicate.
Why did I use carrots? Well because they have an earthy-sweetness to them that caramelizes well with the sugar of the pears. Also, they give a much-needed boost of color to the pear soup … without them the soup has a very depressing beige color. Kind of the same color food I imagine what Oliver Twist was served when he wanted more.
The soups I make for our barrel tastings are cream and butter based soups … the reason for that is when you have an acidic wine the best thing to cut the acid with is fat. That’s why cheese and wine pairings are so popular.
The zippiness of the ginger will really wake up your taste buds, and is great for a sinus cold.
I really like this soup with a very young white wine, and we serve it at our Post Harvest Party. Which means not only is it sampled with our bottled whites it is also paired with our three-month-old chardonnays in the barrel so they still have a little ‘fizz’ to them. Having them pair together is like fireworks on your taste buds.
What to do with all the Pears (???) Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium sweet onions – coarsely chopped
- 48 oz. of chicken stock – it’s okay if you are over or under this amount by six or so ounces
- 10 medium/large carrots – quartered with skins still on
- 1 lime – juiced
- 5 medium/large Bosc pears – peeled, cored and halved
- ¼ cup fresh ginger – finely chopped – add more ginger if you like it spicy
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ pint heavy whipping cream
Directions
- Step 1 Slowly melt butter in olive oil in large pot.
- Step 2 Add onions, slowly cook until translucent.
- Step 3 Add carrots, chicken stock, lime juice, and pears.
- Step 4 Make sure you add pears after lime, so there will be no browning.
- Step 5 Add ginger – I use a carrot peeler to take skin off, and then use a food processor to chop.
- Step 6 Add nutmeg.
- Step 7 When carrots and pears are cooked through use a hand-held emulsifier to blend the soup until it’s smooth.
- Step 8 Before serving take off heat and stir in cream.
