Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears With Vanilla Mascarpone Whipped Cream Food

SPICED RED WINE POACHED PEARS WITH VANILLA MASCARPONE WHIPPED CREAM

Steps:

• Combine wine, sugar, orange peel, orange juice, cinnamon stick and cloves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
• While poaching liquid is simmering, peel pears, leaving the stem intact and being careful not to bruise the pears.
• Slice a small amount from the bottom of the pears to create a flat bottom if necessary so the pears stand upright.
• Gently place the pears in the poaching liquid. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes (depending upon size), turning every 5 minutes with a slotted spoon to ensure even color. Pears should be cooked but still firm.
• Cool at room temperature, turning occasionally to ensure even color.
• When the pears have cooled to room temperature, refrigerate in the liquid at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours, turning occasionally to maintain even color.
• To serve: Remove pears from poaching liquid and place on a serving plate.
• Strain poaching liquid and place back in the saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook until reduced by at least half. Liquid should be slightly syrupy. Let cool to room temperature.
• Drizzle pears with sauce and serve with Vanilla Mascarpone Whipped Cream.
• Combine cream, mascarpone, sugar and vanilla extract in a small, deep bowl. Beat until thick and the consistency of whipped cream, about 5-7 minutes. Serve with pears.

SPICED RED WINE-POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• In a 4-quart saucepan, combine wine, sugar, orange juice, zest, cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. While liquid is simmering, peel pears, leaving stem intact and being careful not to blemish the flesh of the pears. Slice 1/2-inch off the bottom of the pears to create a flat bottom. Gently place pears in poaching liquid, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes to ensure even color, until pears are cooked but still firm. Remove saucepan from flame, uncover and cool with pears upright in pan. Once cool, cover and chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally, if desired. Gently remove pears from liquid and allow to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, reduce liquid by about half over a medium-high flame for 15 minutes, until liquid is thicker and slightly syrupy. Remove from flame and let liquid come to room temperature. Drizzle each pear with 2 tablespoons syrup and serve.

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.

SPICED WINE POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Peel the pears and put in a medium bowl with the lemon juice and enough water to cover to prevent browning.
• In a large heavy saucepan, combine the water, sugar, anise, cloves, and cinnamon stick.
• Stir the sugar mixture over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
• Add the wine, port, ginger, and about 2/3 of the orange zest (the remainder will be used for garnish). Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer.
• Add the pears. Place the lid on the pot so that steam can escape and simmer until the pears are tender when pierced with a toothpick. This will take about 25 minutes. Make sure that you turn the pears so that all sides are evenly cooked.
• Remove the pears from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon. Transfer them to a plate, cover with plastic wrap, cool in the refrigerator about 2 hours.
• Pour the cooking liquid through a sieve to remove the cloves, zest, and other particulate. Return to sauce pan. At this point you can refrigerate the liquid if you plan on serving it within a day or 2.
• To reduce the sauce, simmer until desired consistency is achieved (about 30 minutes to my taste). Taste as you are cooking it to adjust sweetness to your taste (I don't like things that sweet, so the sauce is tart when made according to the recipe).
• Serve each pear with a little sauce drizzled over and sprinkle with remaining zest. Mint & dark chocolate also make good garnishes.

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.

SPICED RED WINE POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Halve the lemon, and remove 3 wide strips of rind. Peel the pears, leaving a topknot of skin and the stem, if it's attached; rub with the cut lemon. Working from the bottom, core the pears.
• Choose a pot that will hold the pears snugly. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit inside the pot. Cut 4 slices from the lemon and put them, the strips of zest and all the other ingredients - except the pears - into the pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and add the pears, tops up - it's O.K. if they're not fully submerged. Cover with the paper circle and the pot's lid.
• Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes - the pears should still be slightly firm but easily pierced with the tip of a knife; transfer them to a bowl. Boil the syrup for 5 minutes, pour over the fruit and discard the spices. Serve slightly warm, at room temperature or chilled, with or without cream.

SPICED POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Combine the water, red wine, lemon juice, sugar and spices in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
• Place the pears in an ovenproof dish and pour the syrup over them.
• Poach at 150°C (300°F) for 20 - 25 minutes or until tender.
• Pour a small amount of the syrup in the bottom of dessert dishes and place the pears on top.
• Serve with whipped cream.

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.