Red Wine Poached Pears with Sticky Red Wine Sauce and Vanilla Whipped Cream

Its been a long time since I posted something exotic or romantic here and so am pausing the amma cooks series and diwali recipes just to post this masterchef inspired dish.
Have you ever seen the Junior masterchef series??? If not Indians Indian home chefs Indian foodies or if you are anyone who love to cook or eat and if you are from India, do not forget to switch on your TV every weekday night at 9 pm and tune over to Star World. The second season is being aired in Star world and I never miss a single episode. Oh all those boys and girls, cooking like professional chefs and cooking their hats off are a beauty to look at. And their plating skills are spot on. You can look at them forever and you would never want to take a bite from the plate. This recipe has been adapted from the Junior masterchef series. I don't remember the season nor the name of the chef-ling who made this but I still remember how the gal was confident that her poached pears recipe would be a winner. And George was simply bowled over by the outcome... U should have seen the way the spoon slid into the pears, it was like knife passing through softened butter. Since then I was hooked to the recipe. It was restaurant-y and beautiful.
The original recipe used only sugar syurp to poach the pears but I had some red wine sitting on my countertop and that inspired me to poach the pears in the wine. I spiced it up with cinnamom and star anise and the flavor was not too overpowering but gave a beautiful kick to the dish. I haven't done justice to the plating but the dish was addictive till the final bite.

Pears poached in spiced red wine, served with spiced red wine reduction and quenelles of vanilla whipped cream and vanilla ice cream... exotic indulgence...

I wanted to try this for the huss because its been a while since I made something exotic just for him. I wanted to surprise him when he was back from work and so started juggling around by 4. Taking the day off rewarded with a romantic evening and that was all we wanted. Nothing can beat a happy smile and a firm hug from ur love.
Its an easy dish to put together provided you have all the components 'mise en place'. Poach the pears first, dump them in the fridge, whip the cream and put all the elememnts in the freezer. Everything came together so beautifully and when I plated it, I just loved the way it looked.

~*What U Need*~
Firm and Ripe Pears - 2
Red wine - 1 cup
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Fresh Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Star Anise - 1
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

For Vanilla Whipped Cream
Fresh cream - 1/4 cup
Powdered sugar - 2 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Vanilla ice cream - 2 scoops

How I Made it:
Peel the pears carefully with the stalk intact. Cut a straight slice off the bottom, this is to make sure that the pears can stand straight.
Next in a deep bottom pan, add red wine, cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice, star anise and vanilla extract and bring to a boil. Add the pears to the pan on their sides.
Bring the heat to low flame and cook the pears for 15 mins on each side. Remove the pears and cook till the wine has reduced and you get a nice thick syrup. Chill the pears until serving.

Lets prepare the whipped cream. Freeze the bowl in which you are gonna make the whipped cream and the blades for 2 hours. Place the bowl with the cream over an iced bath and add the cream, sugar and vanilla extract and whip the cream till you get stiff peaks.

When serving, keep the pears on a plate, drizzle with 1 tbsp of the wine sauce and serve with a dollop of the whipped cream and 2 scoops of vanilla icecream.

Verdict: It was top notch restaurant-y. The smoothness of the pears with the not so sweet wine reduction and chilled ice cream is a perfect combination.

Suggestion: Make this for your valentine on V day and find him mesmerized !!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!