囍有此梨 Poached Pear in Aged Osmanthus Wine
Poached Pears in Red Wine is a signature french fruit dessert which is both easy to prepare and delcious to enjoy. Better known as “Poires Au Vin Rouge“, this french classic uses port or some other full-bodied fortified wine as a base for a thick syrup enriched with spices. Its origins can be traced back to another French dessert named Poire belle Hélène created by by Auguste Escoffier, named after the operetta La belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach. Incidentally creating desserts after popular themes or famous people seemed to be Escoffier’s favorite past-time speciality as he also gave us Pêche Melba, after the famous Australia prima donna. Jacky Wu of 囍宴 Xi Yan, a restaurant chain in Hong Kong and Singapore specialising in the concept of “private dining” decidedly gave this dish an Oriental twist with their restaurant signature “囍有此梨” 桂花陳酒燴啤梨 Poached Pear in Aged Osmanthus Wine, with the incorporation of 桂花陈酒 aged osmanthus wine from China. The palate experience provided is quite different from that of the original Poires Au Vin Rouge but no less enjoyable!
Gâteau de Tangelo Pochées
Gâteau de Tangelo Pochées or Poached Tangelo Cake, is a very simple to make flourless and butterless cake with an incredible citrusy zing to it. No gluten, almost fat-free, and potentially low sugar, this gateau makes the perfect afternoon tea cake, allowing one to indulge so ever frequently in an almost guilt-free manner and yet not become bored of it, as the flexibility of the recipe allows to be to readily modified for other citrus fruits varieties and even other fruits. The original recipe was for “Gâteau de clémentines pochées” (Poached Clementine Cake) in Trish Deseine‘s book “Mes Petits Plats Préférés“, a collection of simple-to-follow, and almost dummy-proof recipes which helped her to win the French Gourmand Cookbook Award in 2002. Exactly 10 years later now her recipes proved to be ever-withstanding and easily reproducible. Deseine used clementines for her cake, a variety of mandarin oranges known for their seedless qualities. But since tangelos are in season, I’d used them instead, and may I add that the result was simply delish!
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