Pears In Red Wine With A Fresh Cheese Filling Food

RED WINE POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Juice the lemon and orange, reserving the juiced citrus halves. Put the juice, citrus halves, wine, water, honey, ginger, black peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, star anise and bay leaf in a wide saucepot. Gently place the pears into the liquid. Make a circle of parchment paper that is 1/2-inch larger than the pot and cover surface completely with the parchment paper (see Cook's Note*). Make sure the pears are fully submerged but not touching the bottom of the pot. Bring the poaching liquid and pears to a boil, then reduce the heat to just below a simmer.
• Cook the pears until fork tender. Test for doneness by inserting a sharp knife in the base; there should be little resistance when fully cooked. Gently transfer pears to a glass or ceramic bowl. Pour enough poaching liquid over pears just to cover. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight; the longer the pears soak, the darker they will become.
• Strain remaining poaching liquid and return to saucepan. Cook over high heat until a syrupy consistency is achieved or the syrup coats the back of a spoon. Chill until the pears are served.
• Use a parisienne scoop to remove each pear's core, hollowing out a 1-inch wide cavity that starts at the base and extends 3/4 of the way up the pear. Transfer the Creamy Pistachio Nut Filling to a piping bag without a tip. Gently fill the pear cavity until it slightly overflows. (The overflow will help to provide a sticky surface to stand the pear up on.) Place the pear, base side down, in a bowl and surround with 1-ounce of the syrup. Serve.
• In a medium-sized bowl, cream the mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla together. Stir in the pistachio nuts.
• Use immediately or refrigerate and return to room temperature before filling the pears.

RED WINE POACHED PEARS WITH MASCARPONE FILLING

Steps:

• Peel pears and leave stem intact. In a large saucepan, bring wine and an equal amount of cold water to a simmer. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and add to wine and water mixture. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender. Cool pears in wine mixture to room temperature. You can refrigerate them in the poaching liquid until you're ready to fill them.
• Remove stems from pears and set stems aside. Core pears with an apple corer, leaving pear whole.
• Whisk together mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, pinch cinnamon and powdered sugar until smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag, or if you do not have one, use wax paper tightly wrapped into a cone with the corner snipped off. Pipe filling into cored pears and finish by putting the stems gently into the mascarpone filling on top of the pears.
• Bring sauce up to a simmer and reduce by half. Add butter to reduced sauce and stir until combined. Spoon generously over pears. Cool to room temperature before serving.

PEARS IN RED WINE

Steps:

• Put sugar, wine, water, cinnamon, cloves and lemon rind in a large saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.
• Peel the pears leaving the stalks on.
• Cut off the core at the base. You are only cutting a small amount (5mm) to help the pears stand upright.
• Add pears to the saucepan.
• Cover and simmer gently for 20 - 25 minutes or until the pears are soft and coloured by the wine. (You can weight the pears down by an upside down cereal bowl to help them get coloured).
• Remove the pears carefully from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and place standing upright in a heatproof bowl or dish (I use a plastic Tupperware dish with a lid so that it can be put in the fridge later).
• Increase the heat and boil the liquid in the saucepan rapidly until the liquid reduces and it thick and syrupy. This can take between 10 and 20 minutes dependent on the quantity of liquid.
• Take the saucepan off the heat and allow to cool slightly. (Careful the sugary liquid is very hot).
• Strain the liquid to remove lemon rind and cloves and pour over the pears. (I hold a sieve over the pears to do this).
• When the pears and the syrup are quite cold chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight. Spoon the syrup over them from time to time this helps to give them more colour. (Again I weight them down with an upside down cereal bowl).

RED WINE POACHED PEARS WITH MASCARPONE FILLING

Steps:

• Peel pears and leave stem intact. In a large pan, bring wine and an equal amount of cold water to a simmer. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and add to wine & water. Add cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 20 min or until tender. Cool pears in wine mixture to room temperature. Refrigerate in poaching liquid (overnight).
• Remove pears from poaching liquid. Remove stems from pears and set stems aside. Core pears with apple corer, leaving pear whole.
• Whisk together mascarpone cheese, whip cream, pinch cinnamon and icing sugar until smooth. Transfer to piping bag. Pipe into cored pears and finish by putting stems into filling at top of pear. Refrigerate.
• Bring sauce to simmer and reduce by half. Add butter to reduced sauce and stir until combined. Spoon generously over pears. Cool to room temperature before serving.

POACHED PEARS IN SPICED RED WINE

Steps:

• Halve the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the black seeds and put in a large saucepan with the wine, sugar, cinnamon and thyme. Cut each piece of pod into three long thin strips, add to pan, then lower in the pears.
• Poach the pears, covered, for 20-30 mins, making sure they are covered in the wine. The cooking time will very much depend on the ripeness of your pears - they should be tender all the way through when pierced with a cocktail stick. You can make these up to 2 days ahead and chill.
• Take the pears from the pan, then boil the liquid to reduce it by half so that it's syrupy. Serve each pear with the cooled syrup, a strip of vanilla, a piece of cinnamon and a small thyme sprig.