Pears in Moscato

Scary moment - having joined Slow Food, I've offered to cook something for a "pudding party" that the local convivium is putting on.

Thinking "safe" I thought I'd go for something I'd at least done before As part of the deal I also have to put a recipe together (yes that's me, the one that's allergic to recipes ).

any comments on this before I send it off tomorrow?

Pears in Moscato d'Asti (simple)
(to serve 8-10)
Ingredients
o 8-10 small pears peeled (squat varieties work well)
o 1 bottle of Moscato d’Asti
o Spices to taste (I used a teaspoon of Cinnamon, but feel free to vary to taste)
o (optional) vanilla pod or vanilla essence


Cooking
o Add the spices (and any honey/vanilla etc.) and enough wine so that it would ~ half cover the pears.
o Bring to a simmer
o Stand the pears upright in the liquid – aim to half cover the pears in liquid, topping up if required with wine (or water if the chef has taken a sneaky swig!)
o Simmer gently for ~ 20-25 mins (pears should be tender – a knife should slide easily in))
o Scoop the pears out and place in the fridge (a shallow serving dish would be ideal)
o Gently reduce the remaining liquid to ~ half the volume
o Allow the liquid to cool, then add to the pears in the serving dish, placing back in the fridge for a couple of hours (or longer)
o Serve cold, with/without ice-cream (vanilla works well)

Variants
Plenty of ways to experiment with this:
- Halving and coring the pears to lie them flat
- Adding honey, jam, marmalade, sugar to the wine for richness (and to help thicken the syrup). Also citrus fruit juice/rind and even nuts.
- Plenty of range on how far to reduce the liquid, from a light to thick syrup. The above recipe would be a very light syrup.
- The classical variant of this is Pears in Barolo, but don’t waste an expensive wine, look for either a Nebbiolo d’Alba or Langhe Nebbiolo from a good producer, or a cheap Barbaresco (we’ve used Araldica Barbaresco before). Also you’ll need to add some sugar or honey to the wine to add a little sweetness. Alternatively, other light dessert wines could be substituted.
- This can also be served with either the liquid or whole dish reheated

Many thanks

Ian

Seems clear to me, Ian.

(It's not so scary once it's done, is it? )

Cynthia
It came out quite attractive the previous time for what is a fairly rustic presentation.

I'd previously served it hot, though perhaps the norm would be to serve cold. I'm wondering whether the weather ( ) should send me towards heating both pears and "syrup" (it's likely to be a cold night). Also whether the thicken the syrup as even a 1/2 reduction would mean it was still quite thin - but I want to keep it quite light, as with ~ 10 other puddings there I'm looking for a light option for those that get scared by the calorie count.

regards

Ian

Hmm. I've had it warm and room temperature, but never refrigerator cold. I like this served warm with some fine homemade vanilla ice cream. The ice cream gently melts into the sauce.

Of course, that would defeat your "light option" plans!

I think the sauce is fine as a light one. It's got tons of flavor and that's most important and allows you to pull that off.

Many thanks Cynthia!

Sounds nice. Let us know how it went after the event?
I'd go for serving it at room temperature.
If it is a pudding party does that mean yours is the only dish to be eaten, or are there other puddings to choose from? How is it arranged?

Matilda
Thanks for the moral support.
I think there are ~ 10 dishes being served - [panic mode on] to a paying public [/panic mode STILL on], with a soup & bread starter. Not sure of the arrangements.
I'll do the cooking on friday, which just leaves transport (possible re-heating) and serving on the night.
regards
Ian

Ian

Would use of a Microwave make it Fast Food?

I'm going to try this with Banrock Station Sparkling Shiraz sometime.

Why the fizz though? Acidity?

Warren
Once heated, there's no semblance of fizz - so I think it's as you say, the acidity (balanced against the sweetness) that works... that said, depending on how the syrup tastes, I may end up adding something to sweeten it if needed - but would rather go for pared down flavours.
regards
Ian

I really fun event, with a really co-operative effort around the kitchen.

IIRC there were 5 different soups with a variety of home-made bread (some using the wonderful local Leatheringsett mill flour). Served with local apple juice and locally produced butter (which I didn't try as I wanted to taste the bread as it was). Most attractive soup was the lentil and chard soup - the Chard giving it a classic "proper" soup look.

An amazing array of puddings, mostly traditional, albeit with a twist or two.

For both the soups and puddings, guests were encoraged to indulge in return visits. After the 1st sweep through of people, none ... NONE ... of the pears had been taken However once the first one was taken, a steady trickle went and I think they all went in the end.

We took along a Sauternes - Ch. Liot 1983 which with age had lost the outright sweetness, but rewarded with complexity and was a surprisingly apt match for a number of the desserts.

Finished with coffee, all for the princely sum of £5 per person. Speaking as objectively as I can, IMO that was a stunning bargain for such an array of home-produced food, but in keeping with the local convivium's aim of avoiding any suspicion of being a pretentious eating club, rather instead bringing good food to a wider audience. The added touch, of having all recipes printed up for guests to take with them, will hopefully encourage one or two people to have a go at their own variant of a dish.

The local website is still being developed / trialled, so this may not be quick, but the intention is to post the recipes here: http://www.slowfoodaylsham.org.uk/recipes/ (they're not there yet).

As an aside, we had a few extra pears, but only one bottle of Moscato d'Asti, so I did another batch for friends with Scrumpy Cider (Weston's Old Rosie) making a substitute appearance. The more tangy cider meant that a little honey/sugar was needed to add balance, but it does make for a very punchy syrup (syrup in this context being something still very liquid - nothing approaching a maple syrup consistency).

thanks for your reassurances!

regards

Ian