MOSCATO AND SPICES POACHED PEAR GELATO

MOSCATO AND SPICES POACHED PEAR GELATO

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CAN I JUST SAY… ONE OF THE TASTIEST GELATO I’VE HAD

TYPICALLY, this is where I enter the room, neck stretched and knuckles cracked, oozing a bit a creepy calmness to suggest the looming turbulence, and ghostly hovers over the keyboard…  Inhale…  Then screeeech, obnoxiously, on the worst, ever! weekend-getaway from hell, carrying a Dumpling that was dangerously “soupy” and could burst and leak out at any minute!

But… exhaaaale… I’m not gonna go there.  Not gonna complain.  My negativism is very bored with my discontent.

Instead, I’m going to, for just one day, do the thing that… you know the thing, the thing that happy people do.  Right, to bring you only the bright side of life, with teethy smiles, flowers, breezes, and above all else, happy gelato and all.  And not just any gelato, but can I just say, one of the tastiest I’ve ever had, too.  Hey, I said I promised you bright things.  But even with the promise not to go Gibson on you, it is impossible, from a literary point of view, to give you a complete narrative of this recipe without mentioning its less celebratory beginning.  After all, it was a collateral payoff of the disaster itself.

So let’s fast-forward through the theatrical tragicomedy where we found ourselves strapped to a ticking time-bomb in a smothering hot day, playing house with apathetic companies in a sluggish smog, and as if not comical enough, the farce promptly heightened with a side-plot of tree pollen-allergy.  To cut it short, on the way home with a crippled spirit and minus four friends, the story brought me to a roadside fruit-stand which I was certain, giving my trickling “chi” lately, to be the final K.O. of my demise.  But NO.  Well… yes and no.

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The high-season peaches, smartly, decidedly to side with main plot and joined the mockery.  But tucked in an unnoticeable corner behind the loud flares of summer cherries and melons, was a box of quiet… off-season pears.  Out of place, awkward and unwelcome, they stroke a string inside my empathetic core.  As someone who isn’t normally familiar with pears, I felt a flush of faith and immediately… asked if I could conduct a taste-test.

God damn it! I can be really cynical sometimes!

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But the pears were generous, sweet, and surprisingly fruity and fragrant.  On the rest of the ride home, I had six new companies tucked between my feet.  Of course right away, I started imagining ways I could play with my new friends… possibly… the only friend left.  How about a glazed pear tart to up the already-boiling temperature of my apartment and switch my emotional meltdown to a physical one?  Maybe not.  How about caramel and poached pear cake to nudge me over the edge into those-curious-sidewalk-people-who-mumbles-to-themselves?  Maybe later.  Well, I guess any oven-related tasks were unadvisable.

So I turned my mind to transforming a warm, spicy autumn classic into high-summer treat.  A sweet, fruity white wine cooked down to a syrupy consistency with pears, vanilla beans, cinnamon, star anise and cloves, then blended with cream to form a thick and supple gelato-base.  The high sugar content, balanced by the tartness of pears, ensured the gelato with a dense, pliable and never-frozen-hard consistency that I love, and the flavours were above all else, elegant but rich.  Hugging a cold, soothing box of poached pear gelato freckled with vanilla bean seeds, came the epiphany.  I see that if it weren’t because of a will-bending disaster trip that has left me wary of all social gatherings, I wouldn’t have discovered one my favourite gelato creation and be able to keep it all to myself.

Hmph, if that’s not how your optimism works, I don’t want to hear it.

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This is a seriously good gelato.  I know that pears are not exactly in season yet, so I think a great substitute would be summer peaches.  The moscato (a sweet fruity white wine) I used was slightly fizzy, which wasn’t actually intended but I don’t think it matters because all the bubbles will be gone in the poaching process anyways.  You don’t need to bleed money for this recipe because the bottle I chose was very reasonably priced at around $10 and the result was still great.

I really struggled whether I should make this a no-churn recipe or not, because theoretically, you can whip the heavy cream to soft peaks then fold in the pureed poached pear-mixture then freeze until hard.  But in the end, I still busted out the ice cream-maker just in case…  If you want to try the no-churn method, chill the purred poached pear-mixture after it’s blended with potato starch, then fold it into softly whipped cream and freeze.  It should do the trick I hope…


Ingredients:

  • 4 medium sized pears such as bosc (16.2 oz/460 grams after peeling and de-cored)
  • 2 cups (500 ml/480 grams) of moscato wine, or other sweet fruity white wine
  • 1 cup (200 grams) of granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp of honey
  • 1 vanilla bean
  • 1 star anise
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 small stick of cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup (63 ml/60 grams) more of moscato wine
  • 2 tbsp of potato starch, or cornstarch
  • 2 cups (465 grams) of heavy cream (or half-half if you prefer)

Peel, de-core and cut the pears into quarters.  Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape out the seeds.  Add the pears into a sauce pot with 2 cups of moscato wine, granulated sugar, honey, vanilla bean seeds and the split pod, star anise, cloves and cinnamon.  Cook over medium to medium-high heat until the liquid has reduced a little more than half, and becomes thick and syrupy, approx 30 ~ 40 min.  The pears should be very soft and translucent at this point.

Remove the vanilla pod, star anise, cloves and cinnamon, then transfer the mixture to a blender and add 1/4 cup more moscato wine and potato starch.  Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and thickened (the residual heat should cook the starch which thickens the mixture).  Then add the heavy cream and blend just until combined.  Chill the mixture in the fridge for at least 4 hours until completely cold.  Then churn it according to your ice-cream maker’s instruction, then freeze until hard.  (DO NOT over-churn it.  Stop when the gelato is slightly on the soft side then transfer to freezer.  The denser/less airy texture is what separates gelato from ice cream.)

Serve with extra shot of moscato wine if you’d like.

25 Comments
  • cynthia

    07.24.2014at10:47 PM Reply

    So, so sorry to hear (tangentially) that you had a bad trip, Mandy! :( Poor Dumpling, and poor you. Though a big YES to this poached pear gelato! Poached pear is so incredible in ice cream that I can just imagine how it tastes in a creamy gelato (with moscato, to boot!) It looks SO. GOOD.

  • Norma

    07.24.2014at11:45 PM Reply

    Love your recipes. Can’t wait to try this one. I have a question, though….how come when printing your recipes the pictures are always black? I’m a visual person and like to see the pics you show on-line, but they always come out black…..

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      07.25.2014at1:37 AM Reply

      Norma, oh I’m so sorry. I believe it’s because I have a plugin that prevents hot-linking which prevent the images from showing up in unauthorized agents, or something… The best I can suggest is to copy/paste the text and image onto a plain document and print it that way? I apologize for the inconvenience…

  • Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar

    07.25.2014at1:16 AM Reply

    Such a neat flavour! This looks awesome!

  • Norma

    07.25.2014at2:06 AM Reply

    That’s how I do print it but I only get the text clearly. The pics come up black and don’t show the actual pic you have online. Guess I’ll just have to do without them. Thanks!

  • Eileen

    07.25.2014at2:59 AM Reply

    This gelato sounds so delicious! I love the idea of making the typical heavy spiced pear into a refreshing gelato. So good!

  • Sophie

    07.25.2014at3:39 AM Reply

    Dumpling is all right, I hope? You are too after this hellish weekend? Thank goodness for pears! I love what you did with this gelato. WOWWEEEEE Mandy you know the way to my heart… wine, fruit, and DESSERT all in one. I want some!

  • Chris

    07.25.2014at6:53 AM Reply

    Hi guys,

    I always copy and paste the recipes I like from this site into a Word doc, and the pictures print out perfectly. I am SO going to make this gelato, and the apple biscuits, which we call scones in Australia & NZ. Oh, and Mandy, those lamb skewers from a week or so ago were divine. Since then I’ve used the method with pork as well, and the other night I rolled lamb kofta in the dry cumin-spice mix just before they came out of the pan then stuffed them into homemade flatbreads with yoghurt, shredded cucumber, mint and coriander. Yum….

  • Pang

    07.25.2014at7:13 AM Reply

    Stop it with your positivity, Mandy (are you Mandy?) You are scaring me!!!
    This looked like the tastiest gelato, indeed. I think I am going to stick with your recipe and wait for the pear :)

  • Belinda@themoonblushbaker

    07.25.2014at10:22 AM Reply

    Nooo!! I need another negative buddy on the web! Food is always served better with a aside of cynicism. I am hoping dumpling is not into much suffering.

    I love pear gelato too, even when I am freezing in Australia gelato is my go to fruity sweet treat. Awesome combo

  • Bill @thewoksoflife

    07.26.2014at7:07 AM Reply

    Hi Mandy,
    This sounds really, really good. I am going to have to break down and buy an ice cream maker. Did you buy one in Beijing or did you “import” it yourself?

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      07.26.2014at12:52 PM Reply

      BILL: Hahaha I bought it in Beijing! The only good thing about living here is that this is the land that makes everything.

  • Hope

    08.06.2014at8:21 PM Reply

    Your blog is one of the most beautiful, well set-up blogs i read, I adore it and you’re a fabulous writer!

  • Anna

    08.12.2014at3:54 AM Reply

    Made this yesterday and had a taste this morning as soon as I woke up… Amazing! Crazily Delicious! I made it by hand as I have no room for a machine in my tiny kitchen. Towards the end of the process I was beginning to wonder if it was worth it… I was so wrong! I was also going to share the batch with friends. Nope, not any more, all for me. Thanks for the genius recipe.

  • Lilli @ Sugar and Cinnamon

    08.12.2014at11:45 AM Reply

    That photo of the scoop of ice cream is literally the most perfect scoop I have ever seen…it makes me want to rush downstairs with a spoon and eat the entire tub of cheap vanilla ice cream in the freezer! But I’m going to resist that urge and instead make this recipe this weekend!

  • Crystal

    10.25.2014at4:08 AM Reply

    Hello! I was wondering what brand of ice cream maker you have, because I was planning to replace my 30-year old hand-me-down Cuisinart with a more reliable one (my aunt doesn’t believe in Pacojets tho)

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      10.25.2014at10:54 AM Reply

      Crystal, oh I wouldn’t recommend my ice cream maker at all… It sucks. It comes with its own compressor, but is expensive and ineffective. But I really want to try the ice cream maker attachment for kitchenaid stand mixer…

  • Winny

    12.03.2014at12:48 AM Reply

    Hi,
    I was wondering if this recipe can be freezed overnight without it being too hard and icy? Or does it have to be eaten as quick as possible? Thank you.

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      12.03.2014at2:12 AM Reply

      Winny, it can be frozen like any ice cream. It will become firmer of course, but wasn’t super hard for my batch

  • Jo

    09.20.2015at8:46 PM Reply

    This gelato makes me angry. Angry because I want to march down to my gelato shop, shove this in their faces and say “THIS is pear gelato. Not the frozen pear syrup I have been eating for years”. Simply brilliant. Made with hand whipped cream. Came out perfect.

  • Ilona

    12.22.2015at12:37 AM Reply

    Hi there! Making this for dessert on Christmas day, for all my inlaws :)
    Tried it out last week and the ice cream was absolute heaven! Was just wondering how long you think it’ll keep in the freezer, because I’d like to make 3 ltr of this stuff a few days in advance (as in: tomorrow)

    Here’s a pic of my small test batch, with some scary looking hazelnut & dark chocolate florentines :)
    http://oi66.tinypic.com/23ljl9i.jpg

    Love from the Netherlands!

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      12.22.2015at4:59 AM Reply

      Ilona, ice creams will keep a long time in the freezer, but if your freezer forms frosts, then I would say to finish within a week.

  • rarerollingobject

    01.03.2016at4:34 PM Reply

    Made this today; it was so good! The no churn version turned out perfectly. https://instagram.com/p/BAD9mgXzMr_/

  • nosh

    10.17.2017at10:24 PM Reply

    can we make this alcohol free?

    • mandy@ladyandpups

      10.18.2017at12:35 AM Reply

      Nosh, I’m afraid not, but the alcohol is completely cooked out and you won’t taste the alcohol :)

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