I like this dish of wine-poached pears with crunchy toppings, spinach, andsavory goat cheese sabayonas a replacement for a traditional cheese course or as the first course of a meal. The poaching can be done in large or small batches. If you want to get ahead or simply need to move a lot of pears, the volume of pears called for can be doubled or tripled, just make sure that the pears are fully submerged in the cooking liquid.
This recipe was excerpted from ‘Pulp’ by Abra Berens. Buy the full book onAmazon.
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What you’ll need
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Pine Nuts
$15 At Amazon
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Small Saucepan
$235 $120 At Amazon
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Parchment Paper
$30 $16 At Amazon
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Mixing Bowls
$40 At Target
Ingredients
Step 1
In a small saucepan, arrange the pear halves so they fit snuggly. Add the wine, honey, and salt, topping it up with as much wine as needed to just cover. Cut a piece of parchment paper or butter paper into a cartouche, then press the cartouche over the pears to help keep them beneath the level of the liquid. Place the saucepan over high heat to bring the liquid to a simmer, then lower the heat to low to gently poach the pears until they are tender, about 12 minutes.
Step 2
Remove from the heat and let cool in the liquid.
Step 3
In a large bowl, toss the bread with a big glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt, then toast in a large frying pan over medium heat or in a moderate oven to make croutons.
Step 4
In a small bowl, combine the rosemary, pine nuts, a pinch of salt, and glug of olive oil, then set aside.
Step 5
In a medium saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a boil. Place a metal bowl over the water, not touching it, and warm the sabayon in the bowl.
Step 6
Lift the pears from the poaching liquid and cut into thick slices.
Step 7
In a large bowl, dress the spinach with a glug of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and a grind of black pepper.
Step 8
To serve, spoon the sabayon evenly into the center of each plate followed by a handful of the spinach. Top with the croutons and slices of pear, then garnish with the rosemary pine nuts. Alternatively, leave the pears in complete halves and rest cut-side up on a bed of spinach and croutons, spoon the sabayon in the center of each pear, and garnish with the rosemary pine nuts.
