Bring the milk to the boil, with a pinch of salt, the vanilla, the peel of ½ lemon; add the rice and cook until it has absorbed all the liquid. Remove the lemon peel and the vanilla, leave to cool and mix in the sugar, the brandy, the lightly beaten eggs, two spoonfuls oil, 150 g breadcrumbs and the baking powder. Mix everything together carefully and complete with the pears chopped into pieces. Stir until mixture is incorporated. Transfer the mixture to a greased oven dish sprinkled with breadcrumbs and bake in the oven at 170° for 50 minutes. When cooked and slightly cooled, remove cake from dish; leave to cool completely and serve covered in icing sugar.