I did this dessert for a recent wine dinner we hosted on the mezzanine.   A few weeks before Erica had me taste a dessert wine; a Gewurztraminer, with which my course would be served.  When I cracked the bottle I instantly thought of lavender; the wine’s sweet aroma filled my head. When I tasted it, I felt the dessert should be not-so-sweet, and accented with an acidic note.  I ended up Lavender Poached Pears with Apricot Coulis and Wet Walnuts.  I reduced the poaching syrup when the pears were done to drizzle on the plate.  The walnuts are a classic ice cream topping made with molasses, they added a nice syrupy crunch to the plate.  I pureed some of the walnut mixture with cream cheese to make a stuffing.  I used this stuffing to fill the cavity in the pears created by coring.

Lavender Poached Pears

6-12  Pears of of your choice depending on size.  I used Seckel Pears which are smaller.  Peel and core the fruit.

1 bottle of white wine

24 ounces of sugar

1/2 cup of dried lavender

!.  Place the wine, sugar, and lavender in a pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a slow simmer when the sugar is dissolved.

2.  Peel and core the pears and add them to the simmering liquid, careful not to crowd.

3.  Poach the pears until an inserted paring knife comes out easily, 15-20 minutes.  Serve warm with Wet Walnuts and

1 cup dried apricots

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

Combine apricots, sugar and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Puree in a blender.

Tags: dessert, plate up, recipe

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 12:48 am and is filed under by Jeff McCarthy, recipe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.