Chef Danilo Cortellini
An old Italian saying goes like this…. “Al Contadino non far sapere quanto è buono il formaggio con le pere” that roughly translate as “Don’t let the peasant know how god is cheese with pears” and to me this is quite absurd as this flavour matching (made in heaven) should not be kept secret to anyone!
The sweetness of the juicy pears and caramelized shallots is perfect to elevate the rich umami taste of Grana Padano Riserva cheese, aged over 20 months.
You could argue that it would be easier to simply serve a nice chunk of Grana Padano with a slice of pear, and that would be delicious too but I am here to have fun in the kitchen and trying convince you to do the same so I played a little with a super easy crumble recipe that you can actually serve as a cheese course in a meal with your friends and family this coming holiday season.
Ingredients
- 8 small shallots
- 2 large pears
- 2 sage leaves
- 20 gr of butter
- 2 tbsp of brown sugar
- About 100 gr of grated Grana Padano PDO Riserva
- Salt and pepper to taste
- For the crumble pastry
- 100 g of grounded almonds
- 100 g of plain flour
- 100 g of unsalted butter
- 50 gr of sugar
- 75 gr of grated Grana Padano PDO Riserva
- 1 tsp of dried thyme
- A pinch of salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation
Make the pastry ahead as it needs to rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before being laid out and cooked. You can make it a few days ahead too and keep it refrigerate it. Simply combine all the ingredients by rubbing the butter and dries with your hands. You can also use a mixer. Be careful not to overheat it or the butter would melt and the pastry become too loose and do not over work it. When ready and combined wrap it in film or parchment and let it rest until the moment of need.
Peel and halve the shallots. In a saucepan heat the butter on medium heat and add the shallots face down. Add the sage and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes until the shallots starts to soften and colour. Do not touch them as you want the cut-side to caramelize slowly for increase taste.
Now remove the shallots from the heat but leave them in the pan and peel and slice the pears into thick slices of about 2 cm thickness. Dust the brown sugar on the shallots and place the pear slices as you wish in the pan with the shallots making sure the whole surface of the pan (or tray) is covered. Now proceed to cover both shallots and pear with a lot of finely grated Grana Padano PDO Riserva. At this stage crumble with your hands small pieces of pastry onto the pan making sure no spots are left uncovered (don’t overfill it, when the surface is covered stop). Pre-heat your oven at 170 degreed Celsius. Bake for 20/30 minutes or until the surface of the pastry is well golden.
As soon as the crumble is out of the oven sprinkle some more freshly grated Grana Padano PDO Riserva over for good measure and let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Scoop out portions of crumble making sure every serve gets a shallots, a piece of pear and the fragrant pastry and remember, it’s delicious if served warm, but it tastes great even at room temperature.
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Chef’s tip
Prepare the crumble in advance and keep it refrigerated. Simply make sure to brought it back to room temperature when serving.