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Mad About Food: Perfect pairing
Red wine, mascarpone cheese and your favorite pear makes a delicious dessert
It’s starting to look like a very promising year. 2024 started on a pretty good note. After the snow thawed and the weather warmed up, we can get out and visit more people and places.
Recently, I was cooking for a good friend of mine who requested that I make her and her husband a pot of chicken and dumpling soup that she could share with an ailing neighbor. Of course I was more than willing to do so. While I prepared the meal, we talked and she told me about this recipe she got from the Food Network that she used to make of Red Wine Poached Pears with Mascarpone Cheese Filling. It sound strange but fancy, so I was intrigued to try my hand at it.
As I searched the aisles of my favorite Hy-Vee, I didn’t find Bartlett pears that the recipe called for so I used one of my favorite sweet pears, the Red Anjou pear, instead. I also couldn’t find my apple corer, so I cut the top of the pears off then removed the inner core plus seeds with a paring knife. I recommend you use an apple corer and get pears that have stems primarily for the look of it. Visually, the Bartlett pears I saw on the Food Network site look richer in color so maybe you would want to use those, although I found the texture and flavor of the Red Anjou pears delicious.
The red wine of my choice was Stella Rosa Black. It is a sweet red that’s delicious as is but the vanilla bean, cinnamon sticks, sugar and bay leaves that the recipe called for definitely enhanced the flavors.
The cost to create this delicious dessert is a little pricey, but it’s definitely worth it. Also, I found that I could have made twice the amount of pears using this recipe. I think I will try this recipe again using the Bartlett pears just to compare the two. I’ve seen many versions of Red Wine Poached Pears using pistachios and honey, or Zinfandel wine. Choose your favorite flavors and create your own masterpiece.
Well, let’s roll up our sleeves, wash our hands and get started creating your very own version of Red Wine Poached Pears with Mascarpone Cheese Filling.
Reach Michelle Madden at Da Munchie Plug LLC on Facebook.
Recipe
Red Wine Poached Pears with Mascarpone Cheese Filling
6 firm Bartlett pears
1 bottle red wine
1 vanilla bean, whole
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
2 cups sugar
2 (8 ounce) containers mascarpone cheese, softened
1/2 cup heavy cream
Pinch cinnamon
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter
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.
Source: Food Network
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