Name: Pickled pears & cheese platter
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500ml perry or cider vinegar; 250g golden caster sugar; 1 tbsp pink peppercorns; 1 tbsp white or yellow mustard seed; 10 cloves; 8 small firm-ish pears; large loaf of walnut or other nutty brown bread with a good crust; good wedge (about 700g) of strong cheese, like stilton or Stichelton or a firmish goat's cheese; few winter salad leaves

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Pickled pears & cheese platter

Pickled pears & cheese platter

Good Food team

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Serves 8

Easy

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 35 mins

A star rating of 5 out of 5.3 ratingsRate

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This stunning prepare-ahead starter can be served on individual plates, or just gather everyone around for drinks in the kitchen

Vegetarian

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Malted walnut seed loaf

A star rating of 4 out of 5.20 ratings

Ingredients

Nutrition

Units:

MetricUS

500ml perry or cider vinegar
250g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp pink peppercorns
1 tbsp white or yellow mustard seed
10 cloves
8 small firm-ish pears

To serve

large loaf of walnut or other nutty brown bread

with a good crust
good wedge (about 700g) of strong cheese, like stilton

or Stichelton or a firmish goat's cheese
few winter salad leaves

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Nutrition: per serving

kcal426
fat31g
saturates20g
carbs17g
sugars17g
fibre2g
protein21g
salt1.76g

Method

step 1

Put the vinegar, sugar and spices into a large saucepan with 500ml of water. Heat gently to melt the sugar. Meanwhile, peel the pears, halve, then scoop out the core with a teaspoon or melon-baller. Add the pears to the pan, they should be just about covered with the liquid, then bring to a simmer for 25-30 mins. Test the pears with a tip of a knife – they should be just tender. Lift out with a slotted spoon and put into a large Kilner jar or a few smaller ones. Boil the liquid down to about 600ml, then pour over the pears to cover. Seal and store in the fridge for up to a week, before serving.
step 2

On Christmas Day, remove the pears from the fridge so they come up to room temperature. To serve, thickly slice and toast the bread and slice the cheese into thin wedges. Lift the pears from the jar and layer up with the cheese on a large platter or board, then scatter with some leaves. Serve with the bread.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2010

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A star rating of 5 out of 5.3 ratings

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