Baked pear with Jerusalem artichoke

Today we're going to make a beautifully salt dough baked pear with different preparations of Jerusalem artichoke and a light but super flavorful sauce.

The Jerusalem artichoke

500 grams

Jerusalem artichokes

First submerge the Jerusalem artichokes with water and season this with some salt. Boil this for about 30 minutes till they’re really well cooked. After that take them out of the water and let them cool down for 2 minutes. Now when still hot cut them in half and gently remove the skin from the meat. Keep the meat from later. Transfer the skins on a silicon sheet and let the dry at 50 degrees Celsius for around 4 hours. After that heat up some neutral oil till it’s 180 degrees Celsius and fry the skins so they puff up and become nice and crispy. Let them cool down on some kitchen paper and season them with salt. Keep them dry and covered for later.

For the Jerusalem artichokes cream

	The Jerusalem artichoke trimmings
100 grams	milk
4 grams	salt

Transfer the Jerusalem artichoke trimmings into a saucepan and also add the milk and the salt. Now bring this to a boil for 1 minute and then blend it into a smooth cream.

The baked pear

400 grams	flour
400 grams	coarse salt
250 grams	water
3	pears

Pour the flour onto your worktop and use your bowl to make a well in the middle. Then add the coarse salt and the water. Now mix this and knead it into a firm dough. Then flour your worktop and roll out the dough till it’s a big sheet. Now cut the sheet in three and cover the pears with the salt dough. Make sure it’s really tight and that there’s no air trapped between the dough and the pear. Place them on a tray and bake them at 180 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes. Then let them cool down for 20 minutes and after remove the pears from the dough. Be careful because the pears can still be very hot. Now let them cool down in your fridge. Once that’s done cut them into the desired shape and also cut away the skin. Use a round cutter to remove the core and keep all the pear trimmings for later.

The sweet and sour Jerusalem artichoke

1 piece	lemon grass
10 grams	Spanish peppers
20 grams	ginger
200 grams	white wine vinegar
100 grams	sugar
100 grams	water
4 grams	salt
4 grams	cardamom seeds
1	Jerusalem artichoke

First chop the lemon grass. Also do this with the Spanish pepper and the ginger. Then pour the white wine vinegar into a pan and also add the sugar, the water, the salt, the cardamom seeds and the chopped spices. Bring this to a boil. Once it has boiled turn of the heat and let it cool down completely. Then take the Jerusalem artichoke and slice it in thin slices on a mandolin. Lay those slices on your worktop and cut it with a small round cutter. Then take your sweet and sour and put it through a fine sieve. Pour some of this liquid the rounds and let it marinate in your fridge.

The pear gel

200 grams	pear juice
100 grams	sugar
40 grams	white wine vinegar
3 grams	agar powder
1 gram	gelen powder

Pour the pear juice into a saucepan and also add the sugar, the white wine vinegar, the agar powder and the gellan powder. Mix this well and then bring it to a boil for 1 minute. Then pour it into a bowl and let it cool down in your fridge. After that transfer it into a blender and spin it into a smooth gel.

The sauce

2	onions
4 grams	salt
400 grams	white wine
400 grams	vegetable stock
300 grams	cream
	The pear trimmings
500 grams	butter
	Some chives

Begin by cleaning the onions and chop them. Now heat up a sauce, add a splash of oil and glaze the onions for 2 minutes together with the salt. Then add the white wine, the vegetable stock, the cream and all the pear trimmings. Now let this reduce for 1/3. Then add the butter and blender this till smooth. Once smooth put it through a fine sieve. Then take some chives and chop them really fine. Add it to the sauce, give it a good mix and check for seasoning.