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Poached
Pears
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 cups white wine or white grape juice
- 3 cups water
- Zest of 1 orange, in 1 by 3-inch strips
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 whole cloves
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 slightly underripe Bosc pears, peeled and
cored, with stems intact
Chocolate
Sauce
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup Fra Angelico liqueur
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 8 ounces shaved semisweet chocolate or chocolate
chips
- 1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream or low-fat frozen
yogurt, softened, for serving.
To make the poached pears, combine all the ingredients
except the pears in a nonaluminum Dutch oven or
soup pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve
the sugar. Add the peeled pears, stem side up, and
simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pears are just
tender. (Ripe pears will cook much quicker.) Remove
the pears from the poaching liquid with a slotted
spoon and regfrigerate for at least 2 hours. The
poaching liquid can be stored and reused.
To make the chocolate sauce, bring the cream, liqueur,
sugar, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove
from heat, add the chocolate, and cover. After 3
minutes, blend in the chocolate until the sauce
is smooth. (The sauce can be prepared several days
ahead and chilled.)
To assemble, warm the chocolate sauce, if chilled,
over low heat or in a double boiler. If it is too
thick, add a few drops of cream. Place a large spoonful
of vanilla ice cream in each dessert cup. Stand
a chilled pear in the ice cream and spoon the warm
chocolate sauce over the pears. Serve immediately,
with your best silver spoons. C’est merveilleux!
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