Recipe of the week: Pear

This fairly simple recipe will impress your guests without too much work and without requiring many ingredients. The ingredients are a perfect mix between pears and a creamy soup, together with some traditional Austrian Drautaler cheese. The intention of this soup was to create something special with unusual combinations – some new, unconventional ideas mixed with some traditional well-known and loved Austrian cheese. The soup is best served during on cooler days to warm up the body again but also to get energy back after an exhausting day at the slopes or after a hiking tour. Furthermore the ingredients can be found in nearly every household (the cheese maybe only in Austrian households) which makes it easy to try the recipe at home for friends and family. Drautaler cheese has been produced for decades from milk from Carinthia and counts as one of the most favoured cheeses in Austria. Serves 4.

Ingredients

2 pears
1 litre vegetable stock
1 celery stick
250 ml cream
1 onion
1 tablespoon oil, salt and pepper, garlic and corn starch

Drautaler cheese and baking paper

Directions

Firstly peel the celery as well as the onions and the pears. Then cut the onions and pears into cubes and slightly roast them in oil.

Add some pepper and salt and add the vegetable stock and let it simmer till the celery is steamed through.

Mix all the ingredients together and press through a strainer.

Finally cream is added and thickened with corn starch.

The cheese sail for the soup can be simply created by using the special Austrian Drautaler cheese. Ream the cheese on the baking plate and design some sails.

Slightly heat up the cheese and modify your preferred form. Use some old jam jar to present your soup in a special way. Some old wood used as a plate will give the Austrian flair to the dish and lastly a small twig is used for decoration.