Warthog Carpaccio with Rosé poached pears

Carpaccio is a very versatile option when thinking of starters or even if you just want to enjoy a light salad for dinner, but would like to add a protein. The pears add a sweet element to the salty meat and with a little balsamic in the mix, you have your perfect taste balance

We served these pretty little roses for a function and even though it is so easy to do, it is definitely not necessary to enjoy this fresh salad dish. All you need to do to create the roses is cut your carpaccio into strips and roll them up and serve.

The part of the salad that takes a little longer is the poaching of the pears, but you can do that the day before and leave them in the fridge. They keep well for up to 10 days, if stored correctly.

Poached Pears

INGREDIENTS

About 4 to 5 big pears – preferably a firmer type.

Bottle of rose – any one that you prefer to drink, we used Karusa Cherry Berry Off-Dry Rose.

Peal and slice the pears into thin strips. Try to make your strips all the same size, as they will poach more evenly.

Pour the wine into a pot, big enough for both the pears and the pot.

It is up to you if you want to keep the alcohol or burn it off. To burn off the alcohol, bring the wine to a simmer – it needs to bubble, or it will not work. Light a match and hold it just above the boiling liquid. Be careful, as the alcohol should catch fire. Just leave the pot, it will burn until all the alcohol has been burned off.

Add your pear slices to the wine and Cook until the pears are soft and pink all the way through.

You can add more sugar as well, if the pears are not sweet enough to your taste.

If the pears are ready, but not all the way pink to the middle, don’t worry, they will continue absorbing the wine.

At this stage you can either keep the pears in the pot to cool, or bottle them, just make sure that they are still covered with the wine.

Putting together the salad.

For this particular salad we used warthog carpaccio and made 3 roses for each serving. We sliced the carpaccio pieces in half and made 2 roses from each piece.

The rest of the salad comprised of tomatoes, cucumber, fresh greens, feta and red onions, but you can add any salad ingredients that you prefer.

Drizzle the salad with a balsamic reduction and decorate with edible flowers and enjoy

Alternatives.

Warthog carpaccio is not something that is available is all stores, but you should be able to get your hands on beef or other red meat, like ostrich.

Instead of using a rose wine, you can also poach the pears in a red wine, that will compliment a red meat better. Then add some blue cheese to your salad and you have a whole different meal. The process of poaching with red wine is the same, but you will probably need to add some sugar to break the dryness of the wine.