• Caramelised pear and Gorgonzola (or blue cheese) filo cigars

    By Sam Linsell Serves: 24
    Cooking Time: 1 hour

    Ingredients

    • 30g butter
    • 80g demerara sugar
    • 3 pears, peeled and chopped into small dice
    • 6 sheets filo pastry
    • 80g butter, melted, to brush
    • 80g Gorgonzola or similar blue cheese

    Instructions

    1

    Melt the 30g butter in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the sugar and allow to dissolve. When it starts bubbling, add the diced pears and cook briefly, about 2 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool. This can be made a day in advance.

    2

    Preheat the oven to 180°C and unroll a sheet of filo, horizontally, on a work surface. Brush the sheet lightly with melted butter and place another sheet on top of this. Cut the filo in half, vertically, and then each half into 4 rectangles. You should now have a total of 8 rectangles per double sheet of filo.

    3

    Spoon 5ml (1 tsp) pear mixture along the short length of each pastry rectangle and crumble about 5ml (1 tsp) blue cheese over this. Brush the inside of the remaining pastry with butter and roll the pastry over the mixture, tucking in the sides as you roll up to seal the join. Repeat to make 8 cigars, then repeat with another 4 sheets of filo to make a further 16 cigars.

    4

    Place the cigars on a lined baking tray, with the sealed side facing down, and brush once more with the remaining butter. Bake until golden and crisp, 15 – 20 minutes, and serve straight away. It doesn’t matter if a little of the cheese oozes out.