Bulgar Wheat Salad with Pears, Pomegranate & Feta Cheese

                             Bulgar Wheat Salad with Pears, Pomegranate & Feta Cheese

Pomegranates have to be the jewels of the food world.  They make any dish burst into life with their iridescence quality. I've used them here for this colourful, delicious, abstract salad. Pretty as a picture.

A light refreshing & healthy dish that will grace any table, makes a delightful starter or lunch. It's a perfect time of the year for this....pears & pomegranates are both in season and are great value for money just now. There's a delicious contrast in flavours with this salad, sweet, sour, sharp & salt along with plenty of different textures with a nice crunch from the Pomegranate.    



To serve 4 portions as a starter or side dish or 2 for a main meal

1 cup of Bulgar wheat simmered in 5 cups boiling water for 15 minutes ...leave until all water is absorbed
2 Ripe but firm pears cored and sliced lengthwise into 8 pieces per pear (I used Conference)
2 Pomegranates Seeded  * see below for tips of de-seeding
1 red onion finely sliced
4 oz Feta Cheese
handful of flat leaf parsley chopped
handful of mint leaves chopped ( substitute of 2 tsps of mint sauce if you don't have it)
2 tsps sesame oil
1 tsp Ras-el-Hanout  * see below
the juice of half a large lemon.
½ tsp sea salt
good grind of fresh black pepper


Method

Cook the Bulgar as per packet instructions or as I mentioned above
Leave until it is just warm..if all the liquid hasn't been absorbed then drain well
Place in a large bowl
Add the Sesame oil, the lemon juice, salt, pepper, Ras-el-Hanout mix together
Add the parsley, mint, red onion, pomegranate seeds & pears gently fold everything together
Pile on a plate and crumble of the Feta Cheese and sprinkle with a little extra chopped parsley.
Serve  

* Ras-el-Hanout is a Moroccan Spice Mix that includes dried ginger, coriander,paprika, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom amongst other spices. It also has a sprinkling of scented rose petals added.  It's such a versatile mix that I use in a lot of my dishes.  You can buy it readily in most UK supermarkets
You could substitute this with a little dried cumin, allspice, paprika & coriander.  Just use 1 tsp of this combination

Pomegranates from our Turkish Holiday

* To easily de-seed a pomegranate, roll it on your work surface with a firm hand.  You will feel the seeds coming away beneath the skin.  Cut in half, either bang the skin with a wooden spoon over a bowl and they will start to fall out or just remove them with your fingers discarding any of the bitter pith that lies between the seeds. I'd suggest you use gloves for this...pomegranates will stain your hands.

   

Pear & Frangipane Tart with Amaretto Whipped Cream

This will make 1 10"/11" 26/28cm round tart
or 1 13"x 4" (34cm x10cm) long tranche type tart plus a few small tartlettes

You will need around 4 ripe pears, peeled, halved length ways, core removed and thinly sliced from the base to the top do not cut through the top,  try to keep the pear half intact, Fan out and sprinkle with a little lemon juice. You should do this while the pastry is cooking not too long beforehand.
A little Apricot jam warmed through with a little water or liqueur to make a glaze.
A few toasted slivered almonds to decorate
Whipped cream to serve. I added Amaretto to mine.

Ingredients

4/5 slightly firm but ripe pears
Apricot jam to glaze
few toasted almonds to decorate
softly whipped double cream flavoured with a little Amaretto

For the Sweet Pastry

125g/4oz unsalted butter
250g/8oz plain flour
2 tbsp sifted icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1tsp lemon juice
2/3 tbsp cold milk
pinch of salt

For the frangipane

175g/6oz ground almonds
225g/7oz butter
225g/7oz caster sugar
50g/1½oz plain flour
4 eggs
1tsp almond extract
4tbsp liqueur I used Kirsch, Amaretto or even Brandy

When I'm making small amounts of pastry I prefer to do it by hand as not only is it very therapeutic it seems to make a much flakier pastry.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Rub in the cold butter until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Mix the wet ingredients together and add a little at a time to the dry ingredients mixing in lightly with your fingertips.Until the mixture forms a soft dough, be careful as may not need all the liquid, you don't want a sticky dough. Place on a floured board bring together to a smooth ball, flatten slightly, wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for a least half an hour.

For the Frangipane

Cream together the butter & sugar until very pale & fluffy.
Mix the flour with the ground almonds in a separate bowl
To the butter and sugar mix add one egg at a time beating well between.
Add the dry ingredients and fold gently through.
Finally add the booze a tbsp at a time and it's ready.

Set the oven at 200c/400f/gas 6

Grease the tart tins well
Roll out the pastry and line the tins. Do not trim to neatly, leave a slight overhang on the tart which can be trimmed off later.
Line the tin with a large piece of crumpled parchment paper. Fill with beans and bake for around 15 mins until the pastry is beginning to brown and the base is reasonably dry when you lift up the paper.
Remove the beans & paper, put back in the oven until the base is golden brown & crispy.
You can now trim off the excess pastry.

Turn the oven down to 180c/350f/gas 4

Place spoonfuls of frangipane in the case and smooth out. Gently arrange to pears on top lightly fanning out while pushing in slightly.
Bake for around 30 minutes until the frangipane is golden, crispy and cooked through in the middle.

Lightly glaze with warmed apricot jam with a little water or liqueur added to make a coating consistency. Pop back in the oven for just a few minutes to glaze.

Serve with either creme Anglaise,   whipped cream or creme fraiche with added liqueur and a little sugar. I used Amaretto for this.