Wine-Poached Pear Croustades with Ice Cream |
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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes |
Ready In: 0 Minutes Servings: 6 |
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Croustades are toasted shapes or shells of bread or baked pastry crusts used as bases for serving various mixtures, either sweet or savory. Here they're made with slices of toasted pound cake and topped with wine-poached pears and ice cream. It's a dessert that's easy to make and a perfect conclusion to a county-style, French-inspired menu. Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups dry red wine (about 1 1/2 750-ml bottles) |
3/4 cup sugar |
18 whole black peppercorns |
2 6x1-inch strips orange peel (orange part only) |
1 bay leaf |
3 firm but ripe bosc or bartlett pears, peeled, halved, cored |
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch |
1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice |
6 1/2-inch-thick pound cake slices, lightly toasted |
vanilla ice cream |
Directions:
1. Stir wine, sugar, peppercorns, orange peel and bay leaf in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high; cover and boil 5 minutes. Add pears. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until pears are tender, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Chill until cold, about 6 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled.)
2. Remove pears from liquid. Strain liquid into heavy small saucepan. Boil until liquid is reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Whisk cornstarch and orange juice in small bowl to blend. Add to saucepan and whisk until sauce boils and thickens, about 1 minute. Remove sauce from heat and cool slightly.
3. Cut pound cake slices diagonally in half. Thinly slice pears lengthwise. Arrange 2 pound cake triangles and 1 sliced pear half on each of 6 plates. Top each with ice cream; drizzle with sauce.
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