Wine-poached Pears with Whipped Blue Cheese and Candied Walnuts

Dale Hollow’s Chambourcin, a fruity, dry red wine, is spiced with cloves, black pepper, cinnamon and orange peel as the base of this elegant, easy dessert. Just peel the pears, simmer them in the spiced wine until tender and then reduce the wine to make a sauce. The warmly spiced sauce and sweet fruit marry perfectly with funky blue cheese and sugared walnuts. Paired with a Chambourcin-based port from Pirtle Winery, this dish offers complex flavor with little effort.

Pair with: Ruby port made with Chambourcin grapes
This grape makes medium-bodied red wine that is fruity (think cherry) and earthy with soft tannins. Chambourcin, a French-American hybrid, is great on its own but even better with food. Here, I poached the pears in a spiced Chambourcin and paired the complex dessert with a ruby-style Chambourcin-based port from Pirtle Winery. Chambourcin is a versatile grape that can be vinified in a number of styles and is wonderfuly suited to a number of applications, including cooking!

Chambourcin-poached Pears with Whipped Blue Cheese and Candied Walnuts

Recipe by: Catherine Neville

Yield: 4 servings

  • 3 cups dry red wine, like Chambourcin

  • ½ cup sugar

  • 3 2-inch strips of orange peel

  • 1 cinnamon stick

  • ½ tsp black peppercorns

  • 2 cloves

  • 4 firm, ripe pears

  • 4 oz. blue cheese, room temperature

  • 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

  • ½ cup heavy cream

  • Candied walnuts, to serve

| Preparation | Combine wine, sugar, orange peel and spices in a pot that’s large enough to fit the pears. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to a simmer. Peel pears with a sharp vegetable peeler, leaving a bit of the skin at the top of each pear intact. Place pears in the poaching liquid and simmer gently, covered, for 20 to 30 minutes, until a wooden skewer easily slides into the flesh, like checking the doneness of a potato.

While pears are poaching, make the whipped blue cheese by combining the blue and cream cheeses along with the olive oil in a bowl. Mix thoroughly until smooth and then add cream a bit at a time until it’s a spreadable consistency, but not too thin. (Alternately, you can just serve the pears with wedges of the cheese if you prefer.)

Remove pears from liquid and place in a deep serving dish. If you’re able to refrigerate the pears overnight and then bring them to room temp the next day, it will enhance the flavor, but the fruit can be served at room temperature after cooking if you don’t have time to let it rest.

Reduce liquid over medium heat until it’s slightly syrupy, about 15 minutes. Spoon syrup over pears and allow to pool in the serving dish, or serve pears individually in shallow bowls.

Serve pears topped with a generous amount of the wine reduction, a spoonful of whipped blue cheese and a sprinkling of candied walnuts.

Catherine Neville