Caramelized Pears With Madeira

We should be careful about saying, “Jesus meets all our needs.” At first, this has a plausible biblical ring to it. Christ is a friend; God is a loving Father; Christians do experience a sense of meaningfulness and confidence in knowing God’s love. It makes Christ the answer to our problems. Yet if our use of the term “needs” is ambiguous, and its range of meaning extends all the way to selfish desires, then there will be some situations where we should say that Jesus does not intend to meet our needs, but that he intends to change our needs.

Edward Welch

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
			4	Servings

INGREDIENTS

300		Water, 1/2 pint
150		Madeira wine, 1/4 pint
125	g	Sugar, 4oz
4		Just ripe Rocha pears
		peeled with stalks
		left on
1/2		375 g, 12oz sweet
		shortcrust pastry
		chilled
3	T	Water
3	T	Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the water, Madeira syrup and sugar in a saucepan over a moderate
heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved.  Lay the pears in the
saucepan, bring to the boil then simmer gently  for 15 minutes, turning
occasionally to cook evenly in the liquid.  Carefully remove the pears
from the pan and allow to cool.  Continue to simmer the liquid until
reduced and syrupy. Allow to cool.  Preheat the oven to 190 Ã¸C, 375
Ã¸F, Gas Mark 5.  Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and
cut out 4  circles, approximately 8cm (3 inches) in diameter. Place on
a lightly  greased baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15
minutes,  until lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.  Place
the sweet pastry rounds on a serving plate, stand a pear on top  of
each and spoon over the Madiera syrup.  To make the spun sugar, place
the water and sugar in a small pan over  a moderate heat, stirring
until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to boil  gently, without stirring
for 1-2 minutes until golden. Remove from  the heat and spoon a little
of the caramel over each pear. Dip 2  forks in the remaining syrup and
stretch threads of sugar between  them. As the threads are formed,
arrange on top of the pears.  Converted by MC_Buster.  Converted by
MM_Buster v2.0l.

A Message from our Provider:

“Instead of complaining that God had hidden himself, you will give Him thanks for having revealed so much of Himself. #Blaise Pascal”

Nutrition (calculated from recipe ingredients) ---------------------------------------------- Calories: 194 Calories From Fat: 16 Total Fat: 1.8g Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 42.7mg Potassium: 7.4mg Carbohydrates: 45.5g Fiber: <1g Sugar: 43.4g Protein: <1g