Is The Chocolate Sauce For The Pears Belle Helene Served Hot Or Cold?

Our answer

Nigella's Pears Belle Helene (from HOW TO EAT) poaches pears in a vanilla syrup until tender, which is a great way to use pears that are hard or underripe. The poached pears are served with a chocolate sauce and for an Express version you can use tinned or canned pears instead of poached pears.

The chocolate sauce is made with a combination of chocolate, coffee and cream, as coffee helps to enhance the flavour of chocolate. The chocolate sauce should be served warm as the warm sauce is a nice contrast to the cool pears. In addition, as the sauce is a type of ganache, the sauce thickens a lot if it is refrigerated and will not be pourable when cold. If you want to make the sauce in advance (or have leftovers) then keep it in a suitable container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Warm the sauce in a saucepan over a very low heat, stirring regularly, until smooth and pourable.