Radicchio with pear chutney, goat's cheese and crispy walnuts
This beautiful wintry starter combines the classic pairings of bitter radicchio leaves with fruity pear, crunchy, earthy walnuts and goat's cheese. Tom Booton uses Sinodun Hill, a relatively new British goat's cheese with a mousse-like quality to it.
Ingredients
Pear chutney
- 1 dash of olive oil
- 1 onion , diced
- 6 pears , peeled, cored and diced
- 100g of brown sugar
- 100g of apple cider vinegar
Crispy walnuts
- 100g of walnuts
- 100g of water
- 100g of caster sugar
Goat's cheese mousse
- 160g of goat's cheese , ideally Sinodun Hill
- 75g of mascarpone
- 100g of full-fat cream cheese
- 160g of double cream
- 10g of lemon juice , (fresh)
- 8g of salt
To serve
- 1 radicchio , cut into quarters
- extra virgin olive oil
- lemon juice
- 1 pear
- 100g of goat's cheese , ideally Sinodun Hill, frozen
Equipment
- Piping bags
Method
Begin by making the pear chutney. The recipe makes more than you will need for this recipe, but can of course be jarred and kept in the fridge. Place a large pan over a medium heat with a splash of oil and add the onion with a pinch of salt. Cook until soft but without colour (around 8 minutes), then add the diced pear, sugar and vinegar and cook down over a low heat until thick and jammy (this will take at least 1 hour). Leave to cool
To make the crispy walnuts, place the sugar and water in a pan and heat to create a sugar syrup. Add the walnuts and simmer until the liquid reduces and clings to the nuts, making them shiny and glossy. Strain and set aside to dry out and cool
You can now either deep-fry the nuts in a small pan of oil or deep-fat fryer until a deep golden brown and crisp, or bake in an oven preheated to 210ºC/gas mark 7 for 6 minutes. Once cooked, sprinkle with sea salt flakes and set aside
To make the goat's cheese mousse, whip all the ingredients together and season with salt and lemon juice. Transfer to a piping bag
Dress the radicchio quarters with a little extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice
You are now ready to assemble the dish. Pipe goat's cheese mousse in between each leaf of the dressed radicchio, then spoon in a little of the pear chutney. Finely slice the pear and add slices between the leaves too. Sprinkle with some crispy walnuts and finish with a good amount of grated Sinodun Hill (freezing it makes it possible to finely grate)
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Radicchio with pear chutney, goat's cheese and crispy walnuts
