Friday 1 January 2010

Happy New Year! Pears in Red Wine

Happy New Year! May 2010 bring joy, peace and lots of good food to you and all you love.

We flew back to London from Cape Town yesterday morning, very early. The idea was that we would land, spend the day cuddling Urchin and apologising for leaving her at home, then we'd have a nice dinner to celebrate the New Year and an early night.

Knowing that we wouldn't have a whole lot of time or inclination to shop after we got home, I'd made some plans. Lobster tails in the freezer, that sort of thing. And I had been thinking about dessert.

Friends gave us a jar of Italian honey infused with white truffle. Heaven. I had the idea that it would be nice in a pannacotta, subtly flavoured with gorgonzola, as a foil to some cherries bottled in eau de vie. I gave it a trial run. I thought it was lovely. Paul could NOT deal with his palate seeing dessert and tasting cheese.

So back to the drawing board. But I present to you the really gorgeous pears in red wine that I prepared to accompany my prototype pannacottas. So hard to go wrong with a pear in red wine. Fruit, spice, rich flavours but a clean finish. A classic!

20 comments:

Faux Fuchsia said...

These Pears look Killer! I want some!

HH said...

Beautiful FC! Happy New Year!

The panacotta option sounds pretty awesome as well!

Alicia Foodycat said...

FF - they were lovely! A family favourite.

HH - the pannacotta was delicious, I was very surprised that Mr I-don't-like-desserts didn't embrace a more savoury option!

Beatrice said...

That looks delicious -- happy new year to you and the Foodycat.

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

and look at that convenient hole to fill with a vanilla cream sauce.... yum

Alicia Foodycat said...

Beatrice - thank you!

AYOTG - that's a good idea! A scoop of icecream fits in nicely too.

mscrankypants said...

I adore poached pears, and my mind is wandering to the truffle-infused honey -- what a wonderful idea!

Happy new year!

Deb in Hawaii said...

I would happily enjoy either dessert option--they both sound delicious! ;-)

Alicia Foodycat said...

Cranky - the truffle honey is divine!

Deb - you are much more forgiving than Paul!

grace said...

happy 2010 to you, too! this is a gorgeous and flavorful dish with which to ring in the new year. i imagine those pears just melt on your tongue!

NKP said...

Lovely, I adore poached pears. Happy New Year!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Grace - they do! The wine works magic.

Natashya - Aren't they great? Under rated, I think!

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

Foodycat, Happy New Year. I've seen this luscious dessert before but have never tried them. Must do so. They look divine.

Bettina Douglas said...

I'm trying to imagine the flavour of truffle honey? The gorgonzola pannacotta sounds like a fantastic idea to me - perfect with pears.

Chef Aimee said...

LOVELY! My supper club is always looking for new themes, and two months ago I suggested cooking with wine! We may do that this spring! If so, I am taking this recipe of yours and flying with it! Happy New Year!

Esi said...

Happy happy new year!! Hope 2010 is the year of greatness for you :)

Alicia Foodycat said...

Theresa - you really must, it's very forgiving!

Mother - it's something we tried in Florence at the market with the fennel pollen. We dunked pieces of pecorino into it.

Aimee - great theme!

Esi - thank you!

kat said...

I thought your initial idea sounded great. Happy New Year

Dee said...

The pears look amazing! And the honey sounds... intriguing. Quick, play with it! I want to hear all about it :)

Alicia Foodycat said...

Kat - thanks!

Dee - I'm not sure what to do with it!

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