Bosc Pears Poached in a Cinnamon and Clove Spiced Red Wine with a Creamy Italian Zabaglione Spiked with Sweet Marsala Wine

The quintessential holiday or New Years Eve dessert. These yummy pears with keep for days and are delicious served whole or chopped up with ice cream or on top of toast with ricotta cheese for an appetizer. Another favorite is to serve the pears sliced on top of lettuce for a festive salad. What makes this the perfect dessert is the Italian Zablione. Sweet and creamy and great for topping just about any dessert. This custardy topping is made with egg yolks and sweet wine like a custard, and then folded into a light, fluffy, whipped cream. The Zabaglione will also keep for 3 days in your refrigerator. Use the leftovers to top fresh fruit. Once you master Zabaglione you can alternate using different alcohol to flavor it. Another one of my favorites is to stir in Amaretto.

Prep Time Pears : 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

Prep Time Zabaglione: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes (this is active time, as you must stir it constantly on the stovetop

Serves: 6

Ingredients for Poached Pears:

6 Bosc Pears, firm and not quite ripe

2 bottles of inexpensive red wine (I used 3.99 Trader Joes Cabernet)

¼ cup Brandy

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs vanilla extract

3 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Whole Star Anise

24 Whole Cloves

Prepared Zabaglione for topping or serving alongside (recipe follows)

White chocolate curls and mint leaves for topping (optional)

Directions for Poached Pears:

Place all of the ingredients with exception of the pears into a medium stockpot. Bring to a rolling boil. While the wine mixture is heating up, peel your pears. You can remove the core at the bottom also if you wish. Leave the stems on as they are attractive when you serve the pears. When the wine has come to a boil, lower the temperature to a slow simmer, add the pears. If the pears are not covered (this will depend on your pan, a deeper thinner pan will be filled higher with the poaching wine, a wider pan may mean the wine is more shallow and you may need to turn the pears. Simmer the pears for 20-25 minutes. You will need to gently turn the pears every 5 minutes so they cook and color evenly. If only 3-4 pears fit in your pan, you may need to do this in two batches depending on the width and size of your pan.

Remove the pears and place them in the refrigerator to cool. They can be made 1-2 days in advance. Leftovers are great to top salads or toast points with ricotta cheese.

Make sure you use Bosc pears or the smaller Seckel pairs. They can not be ripe or they will be mushy. The texture is much better using these two pears.

Ingredients for Zabaglione:

7 egg yolks

⅓ cup sugar

½ cup Marsala wine

1 cup heavy cream (whipped to stiff peaks)

Directions for Zabaglione:

If you have a double boiler, this is the preferred method. If you do not, you can fake it with two pans, one that fits inside of the other. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Lower to a simmer. In a smaller pan that fits inside of the larger pan, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and the Marsala. Place over the pan of simmering water. It is important that you use a whisk and whisk constantly so that the eggs do not curdle. Scrape sides down periodically with a spatula. Keep doing this until the custard has thickened and forms a thick layer on top of your spatula. This should take anywhere from 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool.

Whip the cup of whipped cream until soft peaks form. When the custard is cool, fold it into the whipped cream.

The Zabaglione will keep for 3 days.