Blue Cheese and Pear Phyllo Parcel

The travel goes on, I am now in Trinidad Tobago, In Scarborough, Tobago to be exact. I was very much looking forward to getting out of the ship today; I need a bit fresh air. The air-conditioning is not very favorable to me and I caught a little cold, but nothing a little extra dose of Vitamin C and a cold tablet can solve.

The towns main attraction is a well preserved historical site called Fort King George, an 18th century fortification which now hosts a museum. When we anchored I could see where the castle is, not very big and a bit away from town on a hill top. But then when I got out in the afternoon I could see that it is a bit far to walk there so I just had a quick glimpse at town……very quick. Because Scarborough has really not too much to offer, it is very poor, a little dirty and only has some bars and restaurants which didn’t look too inviting to me. It took me a whole of 20 minutes till I was back on the ship for a good session in the gym. Yes I do go to the gym, rather infrequently but better than nothing. The beaches so are apparently really nice with palm trees and fine sand and of course there are some rather beautiful resorts on the island.
Then of course nature is beautiful with lush tropical vegetation and loads of wild life especially for bird watchers, there are great lakes and waterfalls and of course diving is great with plenty reefs

I browsed a little through the little stand, loads of them selling clothes, all sorts of souvenirs but some of them had really nice fruit and vegetables. There are mango and citrus orchards on the island and they are getting sold in the little stands amongst plenty of other fruit and vegetables.

When we sailed away we could see a bit of the rest of the island, especially the part of Scarborough where all the expensive villas are, absolutely beautiful. I had a last good look at the fort shining in the sun set, I think this another island that needs a bit more exploring.

The recipe for today is a lovely and easy to prepare starter, a blue cheese and pear parcel, it is vegetarian and can be made in advance; the blue cheese goes beautifully with the poached pears

Poached Pears
500 ml (17 floz) White wine
75 g (3 oz) Sugar
1 ea Cinnamon Stick
5 ea Fresh pears

Phyllo Squares
10 ea Phyllo dough
200 g (7 oz) Blue Cheese
200 g (7 oz) Poached pears
100 g ( 3.5 oz) Clarified butter

Berry reduction
100 g (3.5 oz) Rasperries, frozen
50 g (2 oz) Sugar
100 ml (3.5 floz) Red wine
100 ml (3.5 floz) Port wine

For the phyllo parcel brush two sheets of phyllo with clarified butter
Cut them into about 7 cm wide stripes
Put the crumbed blue cheese and pears in the middle of the one strip and then roll it, giving it a square shape
Then turn the parcel around and roll on the open sides on a second sheet of phyllo to close the parcel
Then fry it on all sides in a little clarified butter till crisp and keep warm

Boil the berries with the sugar, wine and port and reduce to half, blend and strain.

Plate one parcel per person in the middle of a plate, garnish with a roasted pear wedge and serve with a little salad and the berry port-reduction

And we are back at sea, one whole day to get to the last two stops, Aruba and Curacao, this time I will go out in both places, especially Curacao!!!