Field-ish to fork

[Malc]

I bought, very cheaply, a book on Tapas which we both love and one of the recipes sounded interesting as it requires small pears; Garlic chicken with pickled pears. We enjoy raiding the hedgerows and had found a few pear trees which had small pears on them last year, but as it was early summer we went to the local supermarket and got some small pears, first were conference and the next batch was a pale skinned pear meant for kids lunchboxes. 

Not only good with the chicken but excellent with cheeses or pates etc.

600gm small firm pears

300gm sugar 

300ml cider/sherry/white wine vinegar 

50ml sweet sherry 

Pinch of saffron (nope, didn't use it as I like it in paella)

1tsp toasted cumin seeds (absolutely essential)

3 long strips of orange peel 

1 cinnamon stick (wife doesn't like it so didn't use it)

2 small dried chillies (warmth not burn your butt heat)

8-10 black peppercorns 

2 star anise (again boss doesn't like so didn't use)

Dissolve sugar slowly in vinegar and sherry while you peel the pears but leave the stalk, when sugar is dissolved add spices etc and turn up to a boil and add pears. Turn them now and again. I used a posh jar as I have loads for pickles, chutney, jams and sloe gin but any jar will do, but sterilise in the oven at 120C or boil in pan of water. When the point of a knife goes in easily pot them, cover with the spiced syrup and put the lids on. Let them mature for a month or two. 

GARLIC CHICKEN 

2 tbsp OO

10-12 chopped  garlic cloves (yes, really)

3 tbsp dry sherry/white wine 

500gm boned and skinned chicken thigh chopped into 1" cube 

S&P

Parsley to serve 

Mix all the ingredients apart from Parsley together and put in a bowl in the fridge for an hour. Thread onto skewers, I like the bamboo ones but soak in water while the chicken marinades, fry in a non stick heavy based pan or plancha or BBQ until nicely brown. 

Scatter with Parsley and chopped pears  

[Malc]

Getting stuck in to the last batch with cheese and crackers and we've just picked a couple kilos of hedgerow pears for Christmas pressies and ourselves today too.

[Saintly Fish]

3 hours ago, Malc said:

Getting stuck in to the last batch with cheese and crackers and we've just picked a couple kilos of hedgerow pears for Christmas pressies and ourselves today too.

Looks nice. But the first photo (I didn't have my glasses on) looks like they are perched on top of a swimming pool!  

[Andy135]

11 hours ago, Saintly Fish said:

Looks nice. But the first photo (I didn't have my glasses on) looks like they are perched on top of a swimming pool!  

#shouldhavegonetospecsavers

[Saintly Fish]

1 minute ago, Andy135 said:

#shouldhavegonetospecsavers

But you can see what I mean?

[Andy135]

The pears sound great as an accompaniment to a cheese board. Good hedgerow hopping.

Garlic chicken sounds nice too but Mrs135 isn't a fan of garlic (weird, I know) and is a vegetarian (even weirder!) so I probably won't get to try it. Thanks for sharing though - top recipes 👍

[Andy135]

1 minute ago, Saintly Fish said:

But you can see what I mean?

We can all see. It's you who can't 🤦‍♂️