Monday, February 1, 2010

Fruity, Decadent Goodness

Pears poached in red wine, cardamom, cinnamon and orange. Fruity, decadent goodness. Give it a try. Oh and I bet you think that's a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream atop the pear, right? Oh no, you misguided soul, allow me to enlighten you. That, my foodie friend, is lemon frozen custard!

If you're not from the Midwest, you may not know about the delicacy that is frozen custard. Frozen custard is a type of ice cream but it contains more butterfat than ice cream (at least 10%) and also contains 1.4% egg yolk. Some ice creams do contain egg yolk, but less than 1.4%. Finally, frozen custard is churned much more slowly than ice cream, which creates less air in the product, and is served at a slightly higher temperature than ice cream. All this creates a richer, smoother and denser frozen treat that puts traditional ice cream to shame. I was raised in Wisconsin, where the gold standard of frozen custard is Kopp's. Here in Seattle, where I live now, we are lucky to have Peaks made just like the best frozen custard I grew up with back home. If you don't have frozen custard in your town, I guess you'll just have to slum it with good quality ice cream. I'm sorry.

Decadent Poached Pears
1 750-ml bottle dry red wine (I used Malbec.)
2 cups sugar (I used organic cane sugar.)
2 cups water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 cinnamon sticks
4 firm but ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut in half (I used Anjou.)
Lemon frozen custard (Or lemon ice cream or sorbet, if you must.)

Combine the first seven ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to a simmer. Add the pears, cut side down, and return the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat and simmer slowly until the pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 25 minutes. Transfer the pears to a plate and cover with foil if you'd like them to stay warm.

Boil the liquid in the saucepan until it's reduced to about three cups of syrupy goodness. This will take about 20 minutes. Allow the sauce to cool before serving or the hot syrup will instantly harden when it hits the frozen custard or ice cream. Serve the pears cut side up with a generous scoop of frozen custard or ice cream and drizzle some of the poaching liquid over your masterpiece.

After thoughts: Refrigerate leftover sauce and pears separately or the pears get mushy. Both can be reheated when leftovers are served or served cold. You will have plenty of syrup leftover which is tasty on frozen custard or ice cream on its own. Or you can drizzle it over goat cheese or blue cheese and serve with crackers, or drizzle it on pancakes and waffles.

No comments: