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!!!

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A comeback, wishes, 'nd a cake ~Fruit Cake / Christmas Plum Cake

...118 days or 3 months 27 days or 16 weeks. Wondering what this is all about. Well, I have been away from the blogging world for an approx of 4 months and I would say that it was for a good reason. I had loved and hated this break as well. Hate as I had to stop doing one thing that I most loved and love.. well lets come back to that later.

So dears, hows it going with all of you. Hope everything is good with everyone... and thanks to all my dear friends who stayed in touch with me when I was away. U guys were one reason that I missed blogging.
Hope you welcomed the new year with utmost joy and had a great time celebrating the day. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YOU GUYS...

I am hoping to blog frequently here on but lets just see how everything happens... So now to the reason why I was away for such a long time. I am so happy to tell all you guys that me and huss are waiting for the arrival of our little angel in another 4 months. The past months have been so tiring with all the morning sickness and dizziness but in addition to that was taking in every second of the happiness of motherhood and all the pampering that I received. It was only this month that I visited the kitchen properly ...let alone cooking. So it was just dosas and chutneys / upmas, nothing special or new. But then with Christmas and new year, I wanted to make my way back, the original me who baked, tried and fried. What best than with the traditional Christmas fruit cake / plum cake.

I had intended to bake the cake on Christmas but moved the plans for New Year as huss's friends were showing up and so baked this for them.
Verdict from the men:
Soft, moist, fruity and truly addictive.

~*What U Need*~
For caramel water:
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Water - 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp

For the cake:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Dried fruits - 1 cup (chopped dates, tutti frutti, black raisins, dried grapes, dried figs)
Dried nuts - 1/2 cup (toasted and chopped almonds, cashews and walnuts
Eggs - 2
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Salt - a huge pinch
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
Rum/Brandy/Red Wine - 1/2 cup

How I Made it:
In a non-stick pan, add sugar and 1 tbsp of water at low flame. Warm 1/2 cup of water. When the sugar turns light brown to dark add the water slowly. Be careful when adding in the water. It splutters so maintain a distance from the pan. Shake and keep aside. Let it cool completely.

Soak dried fruits in red wine for 1 -2 days. I did it for 1 week.

Lets Bake:
Grease the cake pan and place buttered parchment paper in the base alone.
In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs and again beat. Combine caramel water, vanilla extract, garam masala, salt and beat well

Sift APF, baking soda and baking powder thrice.

Add this to the wet ingredients and fold in together. Strain the dry fruits from the juice. Fold in the dry fruits.
Pour the batter into the pan.
Mix the dry nuts with 1 tbsp flour. Spread the nuts on the top of the batter.
Bake at 180°C in a pre-heated oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until the tester comes out clean.
Cool completely. Insert the knife in the edges of the cake to loosen it. Invert it on a wire rack. At this stage, the cake will be sticky.

Slice and enjoy.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

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Tender Cucumber Salad with Red Wine dressing

The summer has set in with full violence but the good news !!! it has brought on melons, tangy sweet mangoes and of course tender cucumbers in abundance. Cucumber is a perfect cooler for the season and what is best than making a refreshing salad with a simple red wine dressing. Sounds yum na!!! That’s what I made when I got a half kg of tender cucumbers.
Huss always wants mayonnaise to be added to the salads which I didn’t prefer for this salad. I just wanted a mouthful of freshness. So pan-fried some paneer cubes and topped off his salad with this. And he loved it!!!

~*What U Need*~

Tender cucumbers / Vellari Pinji – ¼ kg
Lettuce Leaves – a bunch
Capsicum(julienned) – ½ cup
Salt – to taste
Pepper – a pinch
Chaat masala – a pinch

For Salad Dressing
Olive Oil – 2 tbsp
Red Wine – 3 tbsp
Apple Cider Vinegar – ½ tsp

Optional
Paneer cubes – 10-12
Ginger Garlic Paste – ½ tsp
Oil – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste
Pepper – to taste

How I Made it
Slice the cucumbers thinly. Cut the lettuce leaves. Add the julienne-d capsicum and mix well.

Add the salt and pepper and combine well.
To this add the ingredients in the salad dressing and give it a stir.

Lets prepare the paneer now!!! Heat oil in a pan. Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté till the raw smell goes off.
Add the salt, give it a stir and add the paneer cubes.
Allow it to cook to brown on every sides.
Add the pepper and toss it. Don’t use spoon to work on the paneer, just gently toss it around.
This step is purely optional. I skipped this for my salad.

Add the sautéed paneer cubes on top of the salad. Sprinkle some chaat masala and serve immediately.

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Green salad with Sweet Corn and Olives | Awards Again

I am obsessed with salads these days. I go to any restaurants and you see me looking at the salad recipes available. Nothing can beat a fresh refreshing salad with a homemade simple dressing in one hand and “Confessions of a Shopaholic” in the other hand :). This is one of my favie mainly because it includes sweet corn and olives.

~* What U Need*~
Cabbage – ½ cup
Lettuce leaves - 10
Green capsicum – ¼ cup
Boiled Corn kernels – ½ cup
Pitted black olives – 2 tbsp
Apple cider Vinegar – 1 tbsp
Mayonnaise – 2 tbsp
Olive oil – 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper – a pinch
Red wine – 1 tbsp (optional)

How I Made It
Chop the cabbage, lettuce and green capsicum to a not so big or not so small size.
In a large bowl, add the chopped veggies, olives, vinegar, mayonnaise, olive oil, salt, pepper and red wine.


Give it a stir.
Serve immediately. Sit back and relish the freshness.

We had this with a glass of fig n honey milkshake and it was divine.

Now moving on to the awards...
Shoba of FoodMazaa passed on her very own Food Mazaa award and Ambreen of Simply Sweet N Savory again passed on this award.

Akila of Learning to Cook passed on the participation award for the event - Dish Name starts with 'G'

Jabeen of Jabeen's corner passed on a whole bunch of awards.

Ambreen of Simply Sweet N Savory has passed on a whole basket of awards :)... Thanks sweetie...

Snegithi of En Iniya Illam shared this cool award...

Thanks a lot dearies and I apologize for taking such a long time to post all the awards. All these awards mean a lot to me.
I have already penned moused down 7 crazy facts about me here.

The rules of the Awards are ..
1) Accept, and post them on ur blog with the link to the person who gave it to u.
2) Pass it to 15 other blogger friends to keep the ball rolling.
3) Let the nominated person know about his/her award

And now... whew.... the difficult part. Passing on the awards to fellow bloggers...
I would like to give it to...

Geetha of En Samayal Araiyil
Preety of Preety's kitchen
Cook from Doha of Experiments with taste
South Indian Home
Love2cook
Aruna of Veggie Paradise
Nandhini of Nandhini's food
Priya sreeram of Bon Appetit
TreatNTrick
Jeyashri of Jeyashri's kitchen
Prathima of Prats corner
Ammu Mohan of Rasi's Veg Bites
Menaga of Sashiga
Saraswathi of Saras's Kitchen
Ananda of A pinch of Love

I am sorry but I am limited to numbers... But everyone of my dear blogger friends deserve these awards... Next time I am not gonna pick names... I have decided guys...

Interested!!! Click to read more...