Red Wine Poached Pears with Whipped Mascarpone

🧂 Ingredients

• 4 Bosc Pears

  Firm variety are best, soft break apart
• 750 ml Red Wine

  Sweeter preferrable
• ⅓ cup White Sugar
• Lemon Peel

  half of a lemon
• 1 Cinnamon stick
• 3.5 oz Mascarpone Cheese
• 7 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
• 3 tbsp Powdered Sugar
• 3 oz Almonds

  chopped or slivered

Instructions

• 1 Peel the pears and remove the fibrous bottom. Be sure to leave the stalk on for
  handling.
• 2 Add the pears to a large pot along with the red wine, the white sugar, the lemon
  peels and the cinnamon sticks. Try to submerge the pears completely, otherwise
  you'll need to turn the pears half way through cooking.
• 3 Cover the pot, and bring to a simmer. Simmer over low heat until the pears are
  tender. To check, gently insert the tip of a knife — it is goes in without
  resistance, they’re ready. The cooking time will take about 30+ minutes,
  depending on the variety and ripeness of the pear. After 30 minutes, check
  frequently for doneness to avoid overcooking.
• 4 Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool completely. At this point the pears
  are ready to be served, however we highly recommend leaving the pears in the
  poaching liquid overnight to allow the pears to absorb the liquid for a deep
  flavor and rich purple color. So ideally it's best to do this step the day prior
  to serving.
• 5 The day when the pears are to be served, make the whipped mascarpone cream by
  adding the mascarpone cheese, heavy whipping cream, and powdered sugar to a
  large bowl and whipping it to stiff peaks using a hand mixer or stand mixer. If
  the whip is overwhipped, add a little more heavy whipping cream.
• 6 Once the pears are removed from the poaching liquid, remove the lemon zest and
  cinnamon sticks. Then over a medium heat, reduce the liquid to a syrupy
  consistency. Stirring occasionally. You want a light or thin syrupy consistency,
  at which point remove from the pot to a serving vessel. As this syrup cools, it
  will thicken to a desired consistency. If the syrup comes too thick, you can
  always add a little water and reduce the syrup to desired consistency again.
• 7 When serving, add a generous spoonful of whipped mascarpone cream to each
  serving plate, and sprinkle it with chopped almonds. Then place the pear
  slightly resting on the cream, and then drizzle the red wine reduction sauce on
  top of the pear.
• 8 Serve and Enjoy!

Nutrition Info