Red Wine Poached Pears with Mascarpone Filling

This absolutely STUNNING dessert was served by my sister on Christmas Eve. Wow.

I immediately asked for the recipe because this is the kind of dish that will get you noticed and remembered! Serve it for a special occasion or any time you’d like to impress someone.

Please note: the best way to serve these pears is after they’ve been allowed to soak in the wine for a minimum of 5-6 hours to get a deep beautiful color that contrasts starkly with the white of the filling.

If you don’t have a deep, slender apple corer (make sure it’s not an apple SLICER as you want the pears to remain whole), consider slicing them in half, removing the seeds and serving them in a yin-yang pattern with dollops of the filling at either end.
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Red Wine Poached Pears with Mascarpone Filling
Courtesy of Michael Chiarello, Food Network, Episode MO1A02

6 firm but ripe Bartlett pears
1 bottle red wine
1 vanilla bean, whole
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bay leaves
2 cups sugar
2 (8 oz) containers mascarpone cheese, softened
½ cup heavy cream
Pinch cinnamon
½ cup powdered sugar
2 Tbl 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 (and to achieve a deep red/purple color).

Remove stems from pears and set stems aside. Core pears with a long 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 or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe filling into cored 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.

Yields 6 servings.