Baked Pears In Spiced Pomegranate Syrup Food

PEARS STEWED IN POMEGRANATE SYRUP

Steps:

• Combine pomegranate juice and sugar in a saucepan. Peel, halve and core the pears, and drop them into the pomegranate juice mixture. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice, cover the pan, and cook the pears gently for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until they are tender.
• Strain the syrup, discarding the cinnamon and cloves. Let pears cool in the liquid, then transfer pears to a bowl. Boil the liquid until reduced to 1 cup, about 20 minutes. Pour the syrup over the pears and chill.
• To serve, drizzle a serving platter or individual plates with the syrup, place a pear half on each plate, drizzle with more syrup. Serve with a dollop of sweet yogurt cream and sprinkle with the toasted hazelnuts.

SPICED POMEGRANATE SYRUP

Steps:

• Combine the pomegranate juice, wine, and lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk in the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Crumble in half of the brown sugar and whisk mixture until sugar dissolves.
• Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and swirl to coat the pan. Immediately pour in the juice/spice mixture and increase the heat to high. Bring mixture to a boil while whisking to prevent scorching. Reduce heat to medium and, while stirring, add the remaining brown sugar a little at a time. Cook and stir until mixture thickens to a syrupy consistency or when it can coat the back of a spoon.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly and continue to cool, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir and serve.

SPICED BAKED PEARS

Steps:

• Core the pears and set inside a baking dish. An old fashioned peeler with the pointy tip works well for this.
• Combine the craisins, walnuts and orange peel. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine the rest of the ingredients over medium-low heat for 2-5 minutes or until combined and bubbly.
• Take a pinch of your craisin mix and stuff into bottom of each pear. Stir in the rest of the craisin mix into your bubbly sauce.
• Ladle the hot sauce into each pear.
• Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven till the pears are soft. (Usually 30-40 minutes) Check on the pears halfway through. If they look like they are going to burn, cover with foil till the last 5 minutes.
• Let stand at least 5 minutes. Put each pear on a plate then ladle some of the escaped sauce over the pear and drizzle around the plate for presentation.
• Tip: If you don't have any orange peel handy, substitute orange juice for the water.
• Tip: The sauce will escape through the bottom. Don't sweat it. Just ladle it back in after baking. The nut/craisin mix in the bottom helps with this.
• Tip: I know the baking time is a little ambiguous, be we move around a lot and I've made this in several different ovens. It's hard to "kill" these. Just test the pears with a fork. When the tops get that pretty caramel color and they're soft, they're ready.
• Tip: This works with any pear, just adjust the baking time depending on the firmness of the pear. Firmer=longer. I like Bartlett pears because they're fat and stand up on their own better.

SPICED PEARS AND POMEGRANATE

Steps:

• Place the sliced pears and pomegranate seeds into a bowl. Toss with lemon juice to coat. Combine the brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a small cup or bowl, then mix into the fruit. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving to blend the flavors. Serve in individual dishes, and garnish with a sprinkling of chopped almonds and a sprig of mint.

SPICED PEARS WITH CHOCOLATE MASCARPONE

Steps:

• To make the spiced pears: In a large non-aluminum saucepan combine the wine, sugar, vanilla bean, lemon zest and orange peels. Tie the cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns and thyme in a piece of cheesecloth; add to the pan with nutmeg, mace, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.
• Peel pears and cut in half length-wise. Add the pears to the liquid, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Gently cook about 5 to 15 minutes, or until almost tender. Remove from the heat and let sit covered 5 minutes.
• Remove the pears from the syrup and allow to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Chill the syrup on ice; when completely cooled, add the pears, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
• To make the chocolate mascarpone: Melt chocolate in microwave or in top of double-boiler over boiling water. Cool slightly. Whip the mascarpone with the powdered sugar until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and rum, whisking well. Refrigerate until chilled. Spoon into a pastry bag fitted with star tip and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 450-degrees F. Remove the pears from the syrup and drain. With teaspoon or melon baller, carefully hollow out the pears, removing the core. Place the pears in an oven proof skillet large enough to hold all 8 halves. Brush with melted butter.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes or until barely heated through. Remove the skillet and carefully turn pears over in the hot butter. Transfer 2 halves to each warm serving plates and fill each half pear with chocolate mascarpone. Sprinkle with walnuts. Serve immediately with biscotti.