Crave! at work

I received the most beautiful bag of fruit from Crave! at work this holiday season: Chestnuts, Baby Bananas, Comice and Asian Pears.

Crave! at work bag comes with fruit and comes with information about the fruit.

Crave! at work has thought of everything: instructions on how to ripen, and even a brown ripening bag (love this detail).

Crave! asked me to participate in their recipe challenge.  I had fun in my kitchen with the beautiful bounty.

Pear Appetizers
 
With fruit this beautiful, eating it raw is my number one preference.  So I incorporated the fruit in its natural form into the recipe. I sliced the Asian Pears in 1/4 inch slices then used a clover cookie cutter to make the slices a little festive.  Delicious food seems to taste even better when it looks good.  I then placed the Pear slice on top of cheese bread.  It was a great combo, especially with home made Chestnut Spread underneath.  See below for recipe.

Cheese Bread

Chestnut Spread

I'd never cooked with Chestnuts before so I was amazed at how easy they actually are to prepare.

12 oz. Chestnuts
1 1/4 cup Milk
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
4 1/2 oz. Semi Sweet Choc. Chips

Peeling the Chestnuts
Bring a pot of water to a boil.  While waiting for the water to boil, put an X in the curved part of the chestnuts with a paring knife.  Add chestnuts to boiling water for 2 minutes.  Remove chestnuts from water.  Immediately remove shells and skin.  *** Don't let them cool or the nuts and skins will be nearly impossible to remove.  I used a cutting glove to protect my hands from getting burned by the nuts... it also prevent any knife accidents.

Once deshelled, fill saucepan with new water and brought to boil.  Cook chestnuts 25 minutes in water then remove chestnuts.  In another saucepan bring milk and salt to a boil. Add chestnuts and simmer 30 min.  Remove chestnuts and puree chestnuts.  Add a few tablespoons of the cooked milk to the puree along with butter, mix well.  Add remaining milk and mix.

In a saucepan or double boiler, melt chocolate.  Add melted chocolate to chestnut mixture.  Mix well.  Add to ramekin and chill in fridge for hours.  When chilled, spread on sliced bread.  Add to it pear slice.

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