Red Wine Poached Anjou Pears Stuffed With Mascarpone Food

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.

RED WINE AND PORT POACHED PEARS WITH MASCARPONE

Steps:

• In a large saucepan combine the port, wine, 1 cup of the sugar, star anise, cinnamon, thyme, lemon zest, the vanilla bean and seeds. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Add the pears and simmer until the pears are cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool in the poaching liquid.
• Before serving, remove the pears from their poaching liquid and reduce the liquid to a syrup. Strain into a small bowl.
• Combine the mascarpone and remaining sugar in a small bowl. Dollop a small amount of the mascarpone on each plate and arrange a pear half on top to prevent it from sliding around the plate. Garnish the pears with a large dollop of the mascarpone, and drizzle with the reduced poaching liquid. Shave the chocolate over the mascarpone and serve.
• Voila!

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.

RED WINE POACHED PEARS WITH VANILLA BEAN CUSTARD

Steps:

• For the pears: Remove a large strip of peel from the lemon and set aside. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into a medium bowl filled with water. Peel, halve and core the pears, adding the pears to the lemon water as you work (this will prevent them from browning).
• Combine the wine, sugar, vanilla, cloves, cinnamon stick and reserved lemon peel in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar dissolves.
• Remove the pears from the lemon water and add to the wine mixture. Boil the pears until tender, 8 to 10 minutes on each side. Remove the pears from the poaching liquid to a wire rack to cool. If desired, continue to boil the poaching liquid until syrupy, about 10 minutes.
• For the vanilla bean custard sauce: Combine the cream and milk in a medium saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add to the cream mixture along with the scraped bean. Place over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges, then remove from the heat and remove the vanilla bean.
• Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl until combined. Gradually add a little of the hot cream mixture, whisking constantly until combined. Gradually add the remaining cream, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 6 minutes. Remove the custard from the saucepan and cool slightly.
• To serve, spoon some of the custard sauce onto serving plates and top each with a pear half. Dollop with whipped cream and sprinkle with candied pecans, if desired.