In the days running up to the sale, Alice messaged several times to remind me to spread the word, because she was worried about Carla’s cakes. It was December 2015, the first Christmas bake sale at Alice’s new studio, which was also a “gentle opportunity” for cook, teacher and preserver Carla Tomasi to come into the centre of Rome (something she hadn’t been in the habit of for a number of years) to meet friends and to sell her preserves. It was Carla who made it clear that being involved in a collective bake sale was a big step for her after a reclusive time, and that she intended to make just a few things.
In the weeks running up to the sale, however, Carla started sending pictures of the fruit she had picked off the trees in her garden, and of the crates of blueberries that her partner had driven back to Rome from Poland. Then came the photographs of bubbling pans filled with red, orange, brown and pink, and of carefully sterilised jars arranged on clean tea towels. These were followed by images of upturned jars (this creates a good seal) – dozens and dozens of them – filled with apple, caramel and sage butter, mustard-yellow piccalilli, date and apple chutney, fig and onion marmalade, clementine marmalade, blueberry and thyme jam, spiced quince, plum and pomegranate chutney, and Indonesian cauliflower pickle. Carla also announced that she had made “a few” Christmas cakes as well, each one fed meticulously, and that she was considering baking a couple of sorts of biscuits. “A couple” turned out to be seven.
In the days leading up to the sale, Carla let Alice know that she needed space on her table for 150 jars made up of 15 different preserves, three different cordials, 11 family-sized Christmas cakes and a huge number of voluminously gift-wrapped biscuits. It was at this point that Alice started worrying if everything would fit in her not-particularly-large studio, and if enough punters would turn up.
Of course, they did turn up to the warm studio, to eat and buy Alice’s star-topped mince pies, Sophie’s cinnamon buns and Saghar’s Iranian basloq, but mostly to buy from Carla, whose tables occupied more than two-thirds of the space. At the time, I’d known Carla just a little more than a year, so while I understood a bit about her past as a chef in London and about her love of jam, we had no idea of her preserving prowess, nor how funny and pragmatic she could be. As the afternoon turned into evening – and cups of tea into wine – her tables steadily emptied, and Carla revealed herself to be an extremely good saleswoman, too. She sold everything, which included a dozen jars of this week’s recipe: spiced pear and chocolate jam.
Carla devised this recipe and tweaked it over the years, because she appreciated the almond sweetness of pears with bittersweet dark chocolate, and the way the chocolate turns the grainy texture into something velvety without compromising its jammy nature. The spice dimension is important; I have used ground cinnamon (and, of course, you could add more to taste), but cardamom (two teaspoons or a few whole pods) and star anise also work extremely well.
Chocolate with a high cocoa content is important here – 70% is ideal. As for the pears, while most varieties work, comice, bartlett and anjou seem particularly good; the fruit should also be firm but not rock-hard.
Expressions become precious objects when people have gone, and saying them out loud is to have that person leap out momentarily. One of Carla’s favourite expressions whenever a recipe came together, or when something pleased her, was a slightly comical “boom”, and I am sure she would have used it here.
And I appreciate this recipe because it is a straightforward one for a luxurious treat, and perfect for this time of year, either to eat (on toast, crumpets or as a filling for a sponge cake) or to present as a gift. Boom!
Carla’s spiced pear and chocolate jam
Makes 6 jars
2 lemons
1.2kg ripe pears
600g jam or preserving sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
150g 70%-cocoa chocolate, chopped
Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl. Peel and core the pears, then chop them into small pieces and put them straight into the juice bowl.
Tip the pears and juice into a suitable pan and add five teaspoons of water. Put on a medium-low heat and cook, stirring, for five minutes.
Add the sugar, vanilla extract and cinnamon, and simmer, stirring pretty constantly, until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil, stirring often to prevent scorching, until the jam reaches setting point – test this either by temperature (104C) or with the wrinkle test on a cold plate. Stir in the chocolate, making sure it is completely melted and well distributed through the jam.
Ladle into hot, sterilised jars, quickly seal with their lids, then invert and leave them lid down until completely cool – this will help create a better seal. The jam will now keep in a cool, dark cupboard for up to a year. Once opened, store in the fridge and use within a month.
