MKR recipe episode 10: Drunken Pear with Vanilla Ice Cream

Prep time: 1 hour, 10 mins + churning

Cooking time: 2 hours

Serves four.

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Ingredients

100g dark chocolate, melted

Crushed toasted pistachios, to decorate

Vanilla ice cream

300ml milk

300ml cream

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

6 egg yolks

150g caster sugar

Drunken pears

1 orange, thickly sliced

1 orange, extra, zested and juiced

500ml red wine

1 tbs aperol liqueur (optional)

80g caster sugar

1 tbs honey

1 stick cinnamon

Pinch ground cardamom

4 firm ripe pears

Chocolate soil

150g plain flour

2 tbs cocoa powder

100g cold butter, chopped

150g brown sugar

Method

1. To make ice-cream, stir cream, milk, vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat until hot. Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Slowly add hot cream mixture, whisking continuously. Return mixture to saucepan. Stir over a low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain. Cool. Churn in an ice-cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

2. Preheat oven to 180C. Line an oven tray with baking paper.

3. To make chocolate soil, sift flour and cocoa into a small processor. Add butter and sugar. Pulse to form coarse crumbs. Spread onto prepared tray in a single layer.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until crisp. Cool completely.

5. To make chocolate decoration discs, line a tray with baking paper. Spoon 2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate onto the tray. Use the back of a teaspoon to spread into a circle. Repeat to make four circles. Set aside to set.

6. To poach pears, place sliced orange, orange zest and juice, wine, aperol liqueur, sugar, honey, cinnamon, and cardamom in a saucepan (just big enough to snugly fit pears) over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Simmer, on lowest heat, for 30 minutes to allow flavours to infuse.

7. Peel pears and trim bases, so they sit flat. Add pears to poaching liquor and simmer, covered with a cartouche, for about 1 hour or until tender. Remove pears and set aside. Simmer liquor until thickened to form a syrup.

8. Serve pears and ice cream with chocolate soil and chocolate discs.

Tip

‘Cartouche’ is the French term for a piece of baking paper placed over food to keep in moisture during or after cooking. Cut a circle of paper larger than your pan. Fold in half, then in half again and again. Open pleated circle and place into the pan to sit snugly over top of food while cooking.