Cornwall Food and Drink Festival Part 3

If there's one phrase I hate more than others in the supermarket it's "ripen at home". I get angry and start shouting at my avocado "Ripen at home? Ripen it yourself". Pears are one of my biggest bug bears. They seem to have a ripe time of about 20 minutes. Hard, hard, hard, hard, ripe, mouldy. But there is that fantastic 20 minutes when you bite into a ripe pear and you remember how amazing they are.

At the food festival I managed to get my hands on some perry....

(It took a lot of free samples before the other half let me buy the perry.)

Goats cheese and pears with perry dressing.....(serves 2)

2 x Cornish goats brie (70g each)

2 pears

1 bottle (500ml) perry

4tbsp Cornish rapeseed oil

salt and pepper

2oz caster sugar

1/2 oz or 10g butter

brazil nuts

crackers

Pour the perry into a small saucepan and reduce until there is only tbsp left. This takes about 20 minutes.

You should be left with a bright yellow sticky sauce. Spoon into a bowl and whisk in the rapeseed oil and salt and pepper.

Leave aside until you need it.

Peel your pears. Take out the cores and slice into eighths.

Make a sugar syrup out of 1 cup of water and caster sugar. Pop in a pan and heat until dissolved. Put to one side. In a pan melt the butter and add the pears. Fry but keep the pears moving around the pan. After a couple of minutes add 3 or 4 tbsp of the syrup. Cook until soft, always

keeping the pears moving.

Brush the goats cheese with the dressing. Put under a hot grill until they start to melt. Then turn off the grill but leave the cheese underneath it.

Place the cheese and pears on plates. Pour the dressing over the cheese. Serve with the biscuits and nuts.