Poached Pears in Red Wine--Dinner Party

I recently went to a dinner party and made the most delicious dessert, poached pears in red wine is pretty simple and impressive!

 

Poached Pears in Red Wine

 

 

Ingredients

6 firm Bartlett pears

1 bottle red wine (Merlot is what I used)

1 Madagascar vanilla bean, whole

2 teaspoons of cinnamon 
3 Star Anise

2 bay leaves

2 cups sugar

1 (8 ounce) containers mascarpone cheese, softened

1 (8 ounce) whipped cream cheese

1/2 cup heavy cream

Pinch cinnamon

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

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, star anise, bay leaves and sugar, to taste. Add pears to liquid and simmer for about 30 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. Core pears with an apple corer, leaving pear whole.

Whisk together mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, heavy cream, pinch cinnamon and powdered sugar until smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag, or if you do not have one, use ziplock wrapped into a cone with the corner snipped off. Pipe filling into cored pears.

Bring sauce up to a simmer and reduce by half. Spoon generously over pears. Cool to room temperature before serving. 

My friend Diana made the most delicious Hors d'oeuvre from bacon wrapped scallops to caviar pie!