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Poached Pears with Mascarpone Cream (Poire à la Beaujolaise)

Preparation time 45 minutes (plus 24 hours of refrigeration)
Cook time 40-70 minutes
Makes 6 pears
 

Ingredients

For the pears

• 6 pears
• ½ liter (2¹/₅ cups) dry red wine, like cabernet or merlot
• ½ liter (2¹/₅ cups) water
• 250 grams (1¼ cups) sugar
• 1 lemon
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1-2 teaspoons whole cloves

For the filling (and decoration)

• 250 grams (8.8 ounces) mascarpone cheese, slightly softened
• 120 milliliters (½ cup) heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 40 grams (⅓ cup) confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 tablespoon rum
• (Optional) chopped roasted pistachio nuts, for decoration
   

Method

1. Measure all the ingredients.  Put aside a pot large and wide enough to hold all 6 pears comfortably. 
    
2. Peel the lemon into long, skinny strips with a vegetable peeler or small knife. Juice the lemon. 
    
3. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds.
    
4. Combine the wine, water, sugar, lemon peel/juice, vanilla bean pod/seeds, and cloves in a large pot.  Bring to a boil.
    
5. While the poaching liquid is heating up, peel the pears. Leave the stem and core intact. 
    
6. Add the pears to the boiling liquid. Be sure to only add as many pears as can float and move easily in the pot.
    
7. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover with a lid. Stir the fruit gently and occasionally. 
    
8. Cook the pears until tender, about 20-40 minutes depending on the size, variety and ripeness of the pears.  The pears are done when the tip of a knife inserted into the thickest part offers little resistance and is cooked through but not mushy.  Test each pear for doneness separately as they will cook at different rates according to size and ripeness.   
    
9. Once cooked, carefully spoon out the pears from the pot and transfer them to a plate to cool.  Cool the poaching liquid as well.  When the pears and poaching liquid are completely cool, pour the liquid into an airtight container and add the pears. Place in the refrigerator for at least one day or for up to a week.  The longer that the pears are kept in the poaching liquid the deeper their flavor and their red wine color.
    
10. When you are ready to serve the pears, spoon them out of the refrigerated poaching liquid. Transfer the poaching liquid to a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook until the poaching liquid is reduced by half and becomes a syrupy consistency, about 20-30 minutes. Cool the syrup to room temperature before serving.
     
11. Prepare the pears by removing the stems (setting them aside) and slightly cutting the base of the pear so that it sits flat on a plate. Core the pears with an apple corer, leaving the pear whole.
     
12. Make the filling by beating mascarpone cheese, heavy cream, cinnamon, vanilla/rum, and confectioners' sugar together until smooth and stiff. Do not overbeat.
     
13. Transfer the cream to a pastry bag with a star tip, or if you do not have one, use a plastic bag with the corner snipped off. Pipe the filling into the cored pears from both ends.  You will likely have extra cream which you can put in a serving dish for anyone (like me!) wanting more cream.
     
14. To serve, spoon the syrupy poaching liquid on the bottom of the plate.  Place the pear in the liquid and put the stem back on top of the filled pear, or alternatively skip the stem and pipe cream on the top of pear, and sprinkle with pistachio nuts. Serve immediately.