Make Ahead

Wine and Dried Fruit Poached Pears with Doubled Honey Whipped Cream

by:
March  8, 2016
4.5
4 Ratings
Photo by Clair Gu
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

I whipped this recipe together for a last minute dinner party. Easy, pretty, tasty and low effort; it makes use of readily-available things and simple techniques. I made a quick, bracingly tart lemon syrup to go with, but it is optional. —Clair Gu

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Poached Pears
  • 2 cups chardonnay
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 8 dried apricots
  • 8 dried figs
  • 1 vanilla pod, split
  • 2 strips of lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 firm-fleshed pears
  • 1/2 cup roasted pistachio kernels, finely chopped
  • Whipped cream
  • 1 pint heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, ultra-fine
Directions
  1. Poached Pears
  2. Combine all ingredients up to pears in a shallow sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the figs and apricots are soft. Strain them out and set aside. Turn the heat down to low.
  3. Neatly peel, halve, and core the pears, removing the top and bottom stems if you prefer. Nestle the pears gently into the poaching liquid and poach at low heat for ~20 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork but not falling apart. Gently remove from the poaching liquid and set both pears and poaching liquid aside to cool.
  4. Finely dice the reserved apricots and figs and set aside.
  1. Whipped cream
  2. Pour the cream into a medium sized mixing bowl or stand mixer. Whip at high speed until thickened and very creamy, but not yet holding peaks. Fold in other ingredients.
  3. On a plate of your choosing, spoon a pool of cream onto each plate. Add a small quenelle of diced dried fruit to the outside edge of the plate—cover with a pear, seed cavity covering the fruit. Spoon 2 tablespoons of poaching liquid over the pear. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and serve.

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