Baguette, ricotta, pear, honeycomb
A centerpiece baguette to live out a Marie Antoinette dream dinner party.
It’s so feminine and delicate. Imagine this for a baby shower or a friendsgiving…ugh I die. I love the look of the roasted pears filled with honeycomb and garnished with fried basil leaves that look like glass.
Go ahead and decorate yours with more “flowers” and cut it up into smaller pieces for your group of diners. Make sure to fill up the table with plenty of candles to create a warm experience.
Ingredients:
2 baguettes, sliced in half
2 pears, green, hard and unripe - sliced in half
150g unsalted butter
500g smooth ricotta
6-12 slices of prosciutto
100g honeycomb
6-12 basil leaves
2 tbsp neutral oil
Method:
Preheat oven to 175C/345F fan forced.
Make brown butter: In a cast-iron skillet melt butter and stir constantly as it begins to turn a light golden brown. Once a deeper golden color appears, turn off the heat and pour out the excess butter into a bowl, leaving about 1-2 tbsp of brown butter in the pan.
To roast the pears: Place the pears, cut side down, into the pan. They should be nestled in there with the brown butter. Roast in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until they are soft and lightly caramelised. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool.
To fry the basil leaves: add neutral oil to a small fry pan and bring to a high heat. Once the oil is very hot, drop in basil leaves and fry on each side for 20 seconds, or until it looks crispy. Leave out to dry on a paper-towel lined plate. They will crisp up as they dry.
Toast the baguette: Using the excess brown butter from earlier, brush the cut side of the baguettes with brown butter, making sure to get all the edges so they get crispy and golden brown. Place cut side down on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until crispy and golden brown. Let cool slightly.
Cut the ends off two baguettes and cut one end off the other two baguettes. You should be left with one end on two baguettes, so that we can make one giant baguette. Spread ricotta evenly all over the baguettes.
Decorate the baguette: Place baking paper down along the center of the table where the centerpiece baguette will go. Place the baguettes down the center of the baking paper, organising them so that it looks like one big baguette.
Place pear halves down where the baguettes meet and add a spoonful of honeycomb in the center of the pear. Ruffle up prosciutto slices and place on either side of the pear. Garnish with fried basil leaves.
Note: the most efficient way to do this for a large group of people is to cut the baguette into smaller pieces before placing down on the table. Simply smear on ricotta, then cut into smaller pieces and decorate as you wish!
