This Venusian sign is all about beauty. While fellow Venusian sign Taurus appreciates comfort, Libra is more aesthetic in their expression of Venus: presentation and prettiness matters to them.
October fruits are part of the Libran repertoire of ingredients. Venus rules sugar and sweetness. Librans love dessert, afternoon tea and patisseries. The difference between Libra and Taurus is the former would rather eat an exquisite French strawberry tart than a stodgy comfort pudding.
Libran countries include China – an iron fist in a velvet glove, brilliant at strategy. People think Librans wear pink and are charming. They can, but beware, they are essentially polite Scorpios.
Poire Belle Helene
Serves 5
Ingredients for the pears:
5 Packham pears, peeled, not too ripe, not too hard
2 vanilla pods
200g white sugar
a glass of white wine
Ingredients for the chocolate sauce:
200g of dark chocolate, broken into pieces
5 tbsps single cream (optional)
Instructions:
For the pears:
- Peel the pears with a vegetable peeler, retaining the stalks. Cut a tiny slice off the bottom of the pears so that they stand up. I also scooped out a little of the bottom where the stalk ends with a teaspoon.
- Choose a saucepan that fits the five pears in snugly. Then add the vanilla, sugar, wine and top up with water until it covers the pears almost up to the stalk.
- Poach the pears for 20 to 30 minutes until ‘al dente’. Once cooked, remove the pears and reduce the poaching liquid to a syrup, 10 to 20 minutes (don’t let it boil down too much)
For the chocolate sauce:
- Melt the chocolate pieces over a ‘bain-marie’, that is a bowl over a pan of hot water (or over the pan reducing the poaching liquid). It’s important that the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Or, you can melt chocolate in a micro-wave, in 30 second bursts.
- Once melted, add some of the poaching liquid and whisk until glossy. (You can also add a few tablespoons of single cream, for a ganache.
Important:
There are a few tricks to get the sauce on top of the pears, rather than pooling it at the bottom.
- Make sure the chocolate sauce is liquid and warm enough to flow.
- Cut off a sliver from the bottom of the pear so that it will stand up straight
- Chill the pears
- Use a small spoon to make beautiful drips
- Put the end result in the fridge immediately for the chocolate to set.
