Chilled Pear Soup with Goat Cheese Fritters

I just had to try it. Once. Usually I don't fuss with composed desserts this much, but I couldn't resist- and even then I eliminated several of the side garnishes on the plate. So what am I talking about? Last fall I came across a recipe for Chilled Pear Soup with Goat Cheese Fritters. I marked it, fully intending to try it when next I saw some very ripe Bartlett pears. Then promptly forgot about it. So here we are, yet another fall (God, the summer went so fast) and when I saw some nice ripe pears in the market, I remembered the recipe and my good intentions. OK then. Make. This. Soup. Now.

Cold fruit soups can be scrumptious especially when combined with a savory like goat cheese. And pears are divine right now. I found nice ripe ones at Whole Foods and, after finding some semolina flour there as well, the muse was upon me. And I've never made a cold dessert soup myself so this should be fun. It's basically a test run for the holidays. So here we go.

Chilled Pear Soup with Goat Cheese Fritters

(Adapted from Sweet Seasons by Richard Leach)

Ingredients:

For the soup:

6 very ripe Bartlett pears

2 vanilla beans, split in half and seeds scraped

1 cup granulated sugar

For the fritters:

vegetable oil, for frying

1 cup fresh goat cheese

1 cup ricotta cheese

2 egg whites

1 cup semolina flour

1/2 cup cake flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

For the timbales:

2 cups goat cheese

1 julienned pear

Method:

Peel, core and dice the pears. Place in a saucepan and add the scraped pods along with the seeds of the vanilla beans. Add sugar and enough water to just cover the pears. Simmer over mediuim heat until pears are tender.

Puree in a food processor and then strain. Refrigerate.

Heat the oil in a deep fryer to 325°. Combine all the fritter ingredients in a bowl and mix until well combined. Drop by the heaping teaspoonful and allow to fry until golden brown on all sides. Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with confectioners sugar.

For the timbales: cream the goat cheese until smooth and pack into 1 inch tambales. Refrigerate.

To assemble:

Unmold the timbales into eight dessert bowls. Carefully place some julienned pears on top of the timbales. Pour the chilled soup around the timbales. Place five goat cheese fritters next to the soup bowls.

And what did I think? It was amazing! The soup was a little sweet but when I dipped in the goat cheese fritter the flavors blended nicely. ( In the future I would make the fritters a tad smaller and put a little less sugar in the pears. You can always add more before you puree.) And don't forget you can make and chill the pear soup way ahead of time, then fry the timbales at the last minute.