This recipe brings together two great foods from the Midlands in a delightful combination. Blue Stilton cheese has been long appreciated by connoisseurs the world over and is one of England’s great exports. It is a smooth close-textured creamy-white cheese with a network of blue veins and a dry greyish-brown coat. Pears are grown in Herefordshire and Worcestershire. They like a richer, wetter soil than apples; the climate of the south-west midlands is very suitable for them. Comice are a good variety to use. They are very juicy when fully ripe.

Ingredients

Serves: 4
2 Dessert pears, large, ripe but firm, cored
2 Tablespoon Lemon juice
75 Gram Stilton cheese (3 oz)
50 Gram Curd cheese (2 oz)
2 Tablespoon Sunflower oil
1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise
Pinch Mustard powder
Pinch Sugar
1 Teaspoon Poppy seeds

Method

Sprinkle the cavities in the pears with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice.
Cream together the two cheeses. Press as much as possible into the cavities, cover and chill until required.
Just before serving, whisk the oil, mayonnaise, remaining lemon juice, mustard, sugar and poppy seeds together. Spoon onto 4 plates.
Cut each pear in half lengthways, then slice, fan out and arrange, cut side down in the dressing. Serve immediately.