Ingredients
- 2 large ripe conference pears
- 4 soft tortillas (20 cm)
- 2 spring onions, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
- 150 g Blue Stilton, crumbled
- parsley leaves
- 25 g butter
- sprigs of parsley
- liquid acacia honey
‘English’ because of the ingredients for the filling. In The Netherlands (I am Dutch) people ask for Conférence peren in a dignified French way, but that turns out to be quite ridiculous. Indeed, most pears, like roses for example, have French names because people in that country (and in what is now called Belgium) started upgrading what were until then rock-hard, stony stewing pears, which you absolutely could not eat raw. However, Thomas Francis Rivers from Herefordshire was rightly awarded a First-class certificate at the National Pear Conference in 1885 for the pear he had bred, which is now number one in the Netherlands and Belgium. So it is a ‘conference pear’.
In the past when thinking of blue cheeses, we in the Low Countries did not think of England immediately. Today you can buy Blue Stilton in most supermarkets. No wonder: this cheese is superb. Add to this the old English saying:
“Drink a pot of ale, eat a scoop of Stilton every day, you will make old bones”
And you know what is good for you. No wonder that this delicacy has now reached Japan and America, the regions where most Stilton is imported.
- Peel the pears, halve them lengthwise, remove the core. Cut each half lengthwise into 8 thin wedges.
- Arrange 4 wedges in a straight line in the middle of the tortillas, then add the spring onions, parsley and most of the stilton chunks. Roll the tortillas up stiffly.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Place the rolls in it and let them warm up under a lid on a very low heat, do not fry them.
- Just before serving, garnish the rolls with the remaining cheese chunks and parsley sprigs. Drizzle a generous amount of honey over them. Let them brown slightly under a glowing grill. Serve immediately.
You can try this with ale, or a German Dornfelder.
Suggested menu:
- Starter: fried walnuts with Chinese cabbage salad. Fry 2 handfuls of chopped walnuts in some olive oil with some chopped garlic and some salt. Surround on a plate with Chinese cabbage salad: mix chopped leaves with nut oil, white wine vinegar, garlic, salt. Garnish with strips of dried tomatoes in oil.
- Dessert: Chocolate custard over banana slices.