Pear and Orange Breakfast

 

 

This recipe is healthy and delicious. I really like the coconut and orange flavours together, and the orange zest, juice, and pulp provides an intense, bright citrusy zing to start the day. The flavour combination in every mouthful is different, adding a nice bit of interest to each spoonful.

Mum found the original recipe in a newspaper, and it is by Aaron Brunet, winner of MasterChef New Zealand 2013. Mum and I adapted the recipe to suit what ingredients we had available in the kitchen, and this is the recipe that follows. (But if you want to make Aaron Brunet’s original recipe, I have provided details at the bottom of the page about his recipe book where the original recipe can be found, and in the interests of being pedantic, I have also listed the changes Mum and I made to the original recipe.)

 

 

PEAR AND ORANGE BREAKFAST

 

Serves 2

 

1 sweet pear, grated

½ cup almond meal

4 tbsp desiccated coconut

2 tbsp pine nuts, browned

zest of ½ orange

1 orange, ½ juiced, ½ peeled and chopped

8 dates, finely sliced (if dates are hard, soak in boiled hot water to soften)

½ cup milk

8 walnuts, finely chopped

splash of maple syrup (or runny honey or golden syrup)

Yoghurt, to serve

 

1. Grate the pear into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the almond meal, coconut, browned pine nuts, most of the dates, chopped orange, orange juice, and most of the orange zest, then mix well to combine.
3. Divide the mixture between 2 breakfast bowls and add yoghurt to the top.
4. Over the yoghurt, sprinkle the remainder of the dates and orange zest.
5. Pour the desired amount of milk around the base to add moisture.
6. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts, and finish with a drizzle of maple syrup.

 

 

COOK’S NOTES:

I have listed below the changes that Mum and I made to Aaron Brunet’s original recipe :

• Mum and I doubled the original recipe to make enough for 2 servings (but kept the orange amounts the same);
• We soaked our dates in hot water to soften them;
• We used cow’s milk instead of soy milk;
• We used walnuts instead of pecans;
• We browned the pine nuts.

 

Some suggestions for ingredients that can be added to ‘change up’ the recipe are: toasted coconut, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, slivered almonds, dried cranberries.

 

 

Bibliography:

Cook With Me: Recipes for Enjoying Every Day

Aaron Brunet ; photography by Kieran Scott.

Auckland : Random House New Zealand, 2014.

ISBN: 9781775535409