This recipe for poached pears with pecan granola and miso ice cream is the latest in a monthly series of recipes I have created in association with Suma Wholefoods.
In these recipes, I use products from Suma’s extensive range of organic and ethically sourced products, and the recipes appear both here on my blog and on the Suma website.
I first encountered miso ice cream just a couple of months back at a restaurant in Bristol and immediately decided I had to make a vegan version.
Here it is, the bitter sweet umami tones of the miso ice cream beautifully offsetting the sweet poached pears and the crunchy granola. The recipe is vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free and utterly delicious.
poached pears with pecan granola and miso ice cream
Ingredients
4 conference pears
1 litre organic red grape juice
125 ml coconut blossom syrup
1 star anise
1 stick cinnamon
1 vanilla pod
for the granola
150 g rolled oats
75 g pecans, roughly chopped
40 g sunflower seeds
40 g pumpkin seeds
50 g dried apricots, chopped
50 ml coconut blossom syrup
30 g coconut oil
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp sea salt
for the miso ice cream
400ml can organic coconut milk
65 g white miso paste
110 g coconut blossom syrup
Method
1. First make the ice cream. Pour the coconut milk and coconut blossom syrup into a blender. Add the miso paste and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and churn. Once it has started to set, tip the ice cream out into a freezer proof container. Cover the container with a lid and freeze for at least 4 hours. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and leave to stand at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.
2. Next make the granola. Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (300°F, gas mark 2). Place the oats, chopped pecans sunflower seeds and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Melt the coconut oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the coconut blossom syrup and sea salt to the melted coconut oil and stir until the salt has been absorbed. Pour this mixture over the oats, nuts and seeds in the mixing bowl. Stir to combine, then tip this mixture evenlly onto a shallow baking tray and place in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until golden, giving the tray a gentle stir every so often to encourage even cooking. Remove the granola from the oven, place in a clean mixing bowl and leave to cool. Stir in the chopped apricots.
3. For the poached pears, peel the pears and slice a thin amount from the bottom so that they can stand up. You can also carefully core the pears if you wish. Pour the grape juice and coconut blossom syrup into a large pan. Add the star anise, cinnamon, vanilla pod and lemon juice. Finally add the pear halves. Place the pan over a medium heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and poach the pears gently for 20 minutes, or until just tender. Leave the pears to cool in the liquid for 15 minutes then carefully remove from the pan.
4. Remove and discard the spices, then increase the heat under the pan of cooking liquid and boil for fifteen minutes or until it has become thick and syrupy. Remove from the heat and set to one side to cool.
4. to serve, place a poached pear upright on each plate. To the side place a small mound of granola, and top this with a scoop of the miso ice cream. Finally, drizzle some of the cooking syrup around each plate.
Categories: dairy free, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian
Tags: Suma
It’s quite tempting to palate…looks too good👍
Thank you Jyo 😊
Wow, miso ice cream. What a great idea.
Yes, Peggy, it works really well. Such a rich, complex flavour. Steve x
The miso ice cream sounds really intriguing!
It’s actually really lovely. When I saw it on the menu at a restaurant in Bristol I had to give it a try, and I’m so glad I did! Steve
I do the same thing. We find an idea on a menu and it sticks in the brain, and when I get home I try to figure out how I would do it the way I like it. I am so going to try this because I use miso is so many things, my secret flavor bomb!
Looks wonderful – but oops, now I have to hunt down the coconut blossom syrup. My poor husband is so kind, despite me filling the pantry with increasingly arcane and difficult-to-source ingredients for my latest cooking obsessions. I fear this might just be a step too far. He hasn’t quite got over the exploding berry kombucha or my delectable cashew cheese which he refuses to accept as cheese at all. He’ll never be vegan, sadly, but miso ice cream sounds like a tempting prospect. Love your blog posts.
Thank you Miranda. If you can’t source coconut blossom syrup you can always substitute maple syrup. The miso ice cream is both unusual and delicious, and I hope you can tempt your husband to try it. 🙂 Steve
That sounds divine! Your photograph is gorgeous; should be the cover of a glossy foodie mag!
Thank you Pam, very kind of you. Steve 🙂
Methinks your miso ice cream has all of us wondering and perchance doing 🙂 ! . . . Like the pecan granola also – that one will definitely be tried . . .
Thank you Eha x
Great post 😊
Thank you 🙂
What a gorgeous ice cream! Miso ice cream is definitely on the list to try some time. I’m really intrigued by the coconut blossom syrup too, it sounds like such a lovely ingredient.
Thank you. Miso ice cream has been a revelation to me. The coconut blossom syrup is indeed a lovely ingredient: a delicious natural sweetener collected from the sap of coconut blossoms. Steve 🙂