Rosemary – honey Poached Pears

I did this recipe as a part of Blogger Challenge for Better Homes and Gardens India Magazine 
The challenge was to use herbs and make a dessert for christmas… knowing my green thumb and all.. i obviously killed my herb plants which was struggling to even grow an extra leaf! 
You see the little piece of rosemary .. jason called it the Rosemary’s baby that i sacrificed for the photo! that was the only plant and i killed it.. anywhooo…. i made this with just dried herbs that you buy from supermarket.. the recipe seems too much! but trust me its super simple and super delicious! i am not joking… if you know me you will know i dont joke about sweet and delicious things :D 
 
​Rosemary- honey Poached Pears on an Oat – thyme honey Crumble, drizzled with a rosemary- honey syrup and Lemon cream.
I loved the challenge because the idea of using herbs in desserts as it helps you to experiment and broaden your palate to new and interesting flavor combinations. This dessert is not overly sweet and has quite a nice combination of sweet, savory and fresh notes. The dessert uses mostly dried herbs, which is great for people that cannot keeps their herbs alive!
 
Ingredients
Thyme – Honey:

• Honey – 150gm
• Thyme – 2 tablespoons

 
Rosemary- Honey Poached Pears:

• Pears – 3-4 medium sized pears
• Water – 250ml/ 1 cup
• Sugar – 110gm
• Honey – 50gm
• Lemon juice – 2 teaspoons/ lemon slices -2-3
• dried Rosemary – ½ tablespoon or a stalk of fresh rosemary

 
Oat- Thyme ˙Honey Crumble:

• Rolled oats – 50gm
• Flour – 60gm
• Brown Sugar – 100gm
• Chilled butter – 75gm
• Thyme –honey – 1 ½ – 2 teaspoon

 
Lemon Cream:

• Lemon Zest – 1 teaspoon
• Lemon Juice – 1 teaspoon
• Heavy Cream – 200ml
• Icing sugar – 2-3 tablespoons

 
Method:
Thyme – Honey:

• In a clean and dry bottle, add the thyme and pour the honey in.
• Close the bottle and store it in a cool dry place for a couple of days.
• I stored mine for 2 days and the flavor was quite distinct. But if you haven’t prepped this beforehand. You can always add thyme and honey separately.

 
Rosemary- Honey Poached Pears:

• Using a peeler, peel the pears leaving the stalk on. You can either do whole pears or half pears. If you are doing half pears, then cut them straight down the middle.
• Using a melon baller, core the seeded area out.
• In a heavy bottomed pan, add the sugar, honey, lemon juice/ lemon slices, water and rosemary.
• Let it rest for 5 minutes.
• Add the pears, cook it on low heat until the pears are soft but firm.
• Once the pears are cooked, take them out of and keep aside.
• Let the liquid cook until it reduces to half and becomes a syrup. This is the syrup that you will use to drizzle on the pears at the end.

 
Oat- Thyme ˙Honey Crumble:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• In a bowl, add the flour, rolled oats and brown sugar. Mix thoroughly.
• Add the chilled butter and crumble with your fingers until completely mixed with the other ingredients.
• Add the thyme honey or thyme and honey in the mixture.
• Mix well and try not to eat before you finish the dessert.
• On a parchment sheet, spread the oats mix and bake until golden brown.
• Once baked, take it out of the oven and let it cool.
• Crumble the baked oat crumble into small crunchy bits.

 
Lemon Cream:

• In a chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream until peaks are formed.
• Add the icing sugar and whip for a couple of minutes.
• Fold the lemon zest and lemon juice into the cream.
• This lemon cream gives a fresh hint to the palate when you have the dessert.

 
Assembly:

• On a dessert plate/ bowl, add the crumble as a base. Place the pears on top of the crumble.
• Add a dollop of lemon cream to the plate and drizzle everything with a tablespoon or two of the rosemary honey syrup.
• Enjoy!