Poached pears with some sort of sauce that you can have on the side and pour over before serving.

Pears keep whispering to me. I have a recipe for pears poached in red wine and stuffed with blue cheese and scattered toasted pecans. Do you think I could cut them in half before poaching. A whole pear is too much dessert for this crowd, but a half pear would be about right. I could serve them upside down so that the blue cheese would be a little surprise.

I had that last year I did an orange pound cake with and orange zest buttercream frosting.

I would definitely cut them in half before poaching. That sounds really good.

What about a blue cheese tart or a savory blue cheese cheesecake? I’ve made them for appetizers and I think something with no sweetness or fruit will showcase the very sweet ice wine nicely. https://www.cheflovers.com/gorgonzola-cheesecake-recipe/

I’m heading to the groc to get pears and gorgonzola dulce to give it a pre-game audition. And also to see how I’m going to transport them especially if I have the cut side down hiding the gorgonzola.

I also love pears .. fresh or poached.

Though you can buy them year round, pears aren't in season now .. but berries are and Mr Google says summer berries are a great paring with ice wine. Just a thought ...

Funky, so does AI Chat! (Wondering if he and Mr. Google are conspiring???) But I’ve recently been burned on berries. I made Strawberries Romanoff for Nephew’s family engagement dinner. They were great. Made them again for dinner with another couple last week. Bleeeh. The strawberries looked good but tasted like cardboard.

I don’t think I’ve fully explained the recipe I’m using. In the original recipe, you peel the pears, then core from the bottom, one pear per person. Then they are poached in red zinfandel, water, and sugar that is seasoned with a vanilla bean and a few peppercorns. Once the pears are tender but not falling apart, they are removed from the poaching liquid and set out to cool. The poaching liquid is then strained and cooked over medium heat until the liquid is syrupy (in my experience, this takes about an hour). Just before serving the pears, they are stuffed with gorgonzola dulce, drizzled with the syrupy poaching liquid, and a few toasted pecans are scattered around the pear.

I think the pears have the wow-factor I’m looking for, especially if I can hide the gorgonzola. According to the recipe that I’m riffing on, there is just slightly more than 1 oz of cheese per pear when whole pears are used. Because I’m serving half a pear per person, should I go forward using 1 oz per 1/2 pear or should I maintain the ratio by cutting the cheese down to 1/2 oz per pear/person?

If you will serve pear halves (a nice quantity), I’d still use almost 1 oz per person—- gorgonzola is not universally loved but I think that a rounded TB, which should be a bit more than 1/2 ounce, will look nice and be satisfying. Stinky cheese haters can easily avoid it. Pear halves will be easier to eat than whole pears.

I also think an excellent pound cake, un in-iced, or a cake made with almond paste is perfect with dessert wine.

No stinky cheese haters in our group that I know of. When we formed, we were all asked if we had any allergies or aversions. The only food that was named was duck.

After our first year, we pretty much banned test runs. We are all good home cooks. Among our group, if a recipe doesn’t work, it is generally the fault of the recipe. Having said that, because I’m tinkering with a recipe, I think I’ll make a test run. I was going to do it this afternoon, but life intervened.

I agree to pair ice wine with cheese and fruit. it's considered a normal dessert in some countries, and it will help balance the sweetness of the wine. I use apple slices as the "vehicle" for softer cheeses, and also include some harder cheeses that one can just eat on their own. plus some grapes as a palette cleanser.

OMG. I had forgotten how much I love this dish! I just made the test run. For testing, I used brie instead of Gorgonzola dolce. No one was in the cheese department this morning, so I could not get a custom cut of the Gorgonzola. I only have enough for lunch tomorrow.

Mtn, the red wine is diluted with water and sweetened with a bit of sugar. Black peppercorns and a splash of vanilla give it a spicy hint. I don’t think it tastes of red wine at all. Even the reduced poaching liquid doesn’t have and overly wine-y taste. Mostly, it is just a slightly sweet, slightly spicy flavor. But, I like red wine, so that may be informing my opinion.

Now, I’ve got to decide if I should poach the pears this afternoon and reduce the liquid to a syrup or get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow and do it. I needs to be served room temperature. I just wonder if refrigerating the syrup (reduced poaching liquid) will adversely affect it’s texture.

If anyone has an opinion on doing this ahead or getting up early tomorrow and doing it, please chime in. I need the advice.

I can't see any reason a syrup would change texture when being held in the refer, if held separately from the pears. I would totally do it tonight, then it will be room temp by the time you need it. What kind of pears did you use?

It is done! The pears are cooling and separately the syrup is cooling. When they are sufficiently cool, I’ll put them in the fridge. By the time I fill them with cheese tomorrow and drive to the hostess’ house, and we have our meal, the pears will be fully room temp.

My current frustration is that the Gorgonzola dolce is kinda beige and dirty looking, even if I avoid the rind.. I was going to fill the cavity with the cheese then turn the pear half upside down so it could not be seen, but I couldn’t get enough cheese into the cavity. I guess I’ll just hope the ruby red syrup attracts the eye instead of the brown-ish cheese.

Do you have any pistachios that you could chop and sprinkle if needed? Or maybe thin twists of orange zest? if the cheese is under, the pear with the reduced syrup will be pretty!

BBSTX, your recipe sounds a million times better than the red wine poached pears I have had! Can you still taste the delicate pear flavor too?

The recipe calls for scattering chopped, toasted pecans over the dish. When I try to put the cheese under the pear, it hikes up the pear oddly.

I’ve thought of toasting the pecans, then chopping them fairly finely, rolling a ball of Gorgonzola in the pecans and putting the pecan covered ball of cheese in the well of the pear. Can I get any support for that idea?

The pear flavor can still be detected. I think it would be much more flavorful if the pears were in season, but I won’t be doing the dessert course when they are. And above all else, I want this bottle of ice wine gone.

It sounds like the cheese balls rolled in pecans would be the perfect foil for the off color of the cheese. Would it be possible to roll them in the pecans at the last minute before serving so they don't get soft? You might also partially slice through and fan the neck part of the pear half, with the cheese ball in the cavity, just for a little more elegant presentation. This is a whole pear I think, but I like the contrast of the deeper red and the lighter center.

This looks nice too, with your cheese ball instead.

BBSTX, sounds gorgeous

Oly, those presentation ideas are luscious. I wish I had fiddled with the test run yesterday to try something like that. I think I’m going to go plain today rather than risk making a hacked up mess.

Back to the Gorgonzola balls. I did a quick google search and found that Gorgonzola is often mixed with cream cheese to make balls. I have cream cheese. Gorgonzola dulce is a relatively mild (emphasis on relatively) blue cheese. I’m afraid the cream cheese will blunt the flavor. Opinions?

ETA: another recipe calls for adding chopped nuts to the Gorgonzola, making ball, and then rolling the balls in more nuts. Not being a nut-lover, that sounds too nutty to me. Opinions?

More ETA: I’m not needing to stretch the Gorgonzola. I have sufficient for what I need.

I can’t tell you how much I want pears and blue cheese now. I prefer bartlett and they are pretty mich gone now except those being imported from South America, so I might have to wait. Anxious to hear how yours turned out.

i agree too nutty. Outside only, and as close to serving as possible

Oh I bet it was beautiful ... how did your luncheon go? how were the pears received??

It doesn’t photograph well, but the dish was very well received. A whole pear standing upright in a puddle of syrup with toasted pecan halves scattered around is much more dramatic. However, this was just the right amount.

And many had never tasted ice wine before. I think only ~75% liked the ice wine, but it sure gave us something to talk about.

We nearly had a all-cheese luncheon. The appetizer was individual cheese balls; the salad contained romano and blue cheese; and then there was my dessert. Fortunately, the main course and the side were cheese-less. The main course was a very tasty shrimp and fettucine dish. The sauce was thin, buttery, and lemony with a delicious topping of what appeared to be bread crumbs, lemon zest, finely chopped parsley, and maybe a little garlic - akin to a gremolata. The side was asparagus that was perfectly done.