Easy & elegant; a perfect dessert recipe

Nine years later, this recipe still is a favorite. What’s not to like in a recipe that combines sweetened mascarpone and wine-infused pears? It is so simple to make and also so beautiful to serve. When you add that it is amazingly delicious, it’s obvious why this recipe stands the test of time.

The original post from December 2009

Last week, I posted my Ravens inspired eggplant salsa recipe.  Of course, one purple dish isn’t quite enough to produce a theme.  So, I had other purple plans for our evening.  One was what should have been a purple cocktail.  Unfortunately, I learned that when combining beverages, blue and red don’t make purple always.

However, my other purple food, which was a dessert, was a success.  Although we typically don’t have dessert with our Tapas Monday dinners, it seemed one of the easier ways to infuse more purple into our meal.  Luckily, cooking pears in Cabernet Sauvignon produced a flavorful dessert that looked fairly purple in hue.

We enjoyed these pears so much that we decided to serve them on another night, but this time used a Sauvignon Blanc.  These pears were delicious also.  As we prefer red wines, we liked the pears poached in the Cab more, but either recipe produced a dessert that looks quite impressive but is very simple to make.  As long as you can peel and core pears, boil liquids, and mix honey into mascarpone, you can master this recipe!

Wine Poached Pears with Honeyed Mascarpone

2014-10-04 03:47:06

Yields 6

Easy & elegant; a perfect dessert recipe

Print

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

35 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

20 min

Total Time

35 min

Ingredients

1. 3 pears, peeled
2. 2 cups Cabernet Sauvignon*
3. 1/2 cup water
4. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
5. 4 ounces mascarpone
6. 2 tablespoons honey

Instructions

1. Cut pears in half lengthwise, and remove stem and core.
2. Combine wine, water, and sugar in a medium-sized pot, and bring to a boil over high heat.
3. When sugar has dissolved and mixture is boiling, add pears. (If pears are not fully covered by liquids, more water can be added.)
4. Reduce to simmering, and allow to cook for 15 minutes, or until pears can be pierced by a fork but still are firm.
5. While pears are simmering, combine mascarpone and honey in a small bowl.
6. Remove pears from poaching liquid, and place cut side up on a serving plate.
7. Place a generous scoop of mascarpone mixture in the scooped out section of the pear’s core.
8. Serve immediately, as the mascarpone will start to melt.

Notes

1. *Any red wine varietal can be used. If using a white wine, the sugar can be reduced to 1/4 cup.

By Michele Pesula Kuegler

Think Tasty https://www.thinktasty.com/