Poached pears with mascarpone and orange caramel sauce
Poached pears with a combination of mascarpone cream and fresh-sweet orange caramel sauce. Soooo delicious! And perfect for a dinner party. You just want to make these. How? I’ll tell you below.
Poached Pears with Mascarpone and Orange Caramel
You can never have enough poached pears, I think. And this recipe for poached pears with mascarpone actually came about more or less by accident. I had some mascarpone left over from a photo shoot a few days earlier, and I had already made poached pears. Then I remembered that I hadn’t made caramel sauce in a while. And voila, the recipe was born.
And let me tell you, it exceeded my expectations. The hero of this recipe is, of course, the orange caramel sauce. So let me start with that, because making caramel is a job that takes some time. It’s not complicated, but it’s not something you can do while also doing other things.
For this recipe I had already made the poached pears earlier using this recipe. As a poaching liquid I used red wine, but if you want to go for no alcohol you can simply substitute the wine for red grape juice. While poaching I add a cinnamon stick, vanilla bean and star anise.
Orange Caramel Sauce
To make the caramel sauce, you will need the following ingredients
- Granulated sugar
- chicken butter
- a little water
- orange juice
So, basically, nice and simple. You put the granulated sugar in a small saucepan. I use a small or medium saucepan with a clear bottom. By that I mean I can see what is happening to the sugar. A black pot doesn’t work because I can’t really see what color the sugar is. And that is essential for making a good caramel. So a light bottom is what you need. Whether it’s aluminum or white is up to you.
Now put the sugar in the pan with 3 tablespoons of water. Make sure the sugar is slightly wet. This will make the process of making the caramel a little easier. Place the pan over medium high heat and gently bring to a boil. Do not start stirring in the pan! This is important because stirring will cause the whole thing to crystallize and you won’t get a nice caramel. If it starts to brown unevenly, gently swirl the pan back and forth to mix the liquid better. Let it go at a gentle simmer
Stay with the pan because once it turns brown, it goes fast! You want a nice dark brown color, but make sure the caramel doesn’t burn, because nothing is more annoying than caramel that tastes burnt. Once the caramel is dark brown, add the orange juice all at once. Be careful as this can get very bubbly. Continue to stir gently in your pan until it calms down. Remove from the heat and add the butter chunks one at a time and stir through until you have a glossy caramel sauce..
The caramel sauce will be thin now, but as it cools it will thicken a bit and become nice and syrupy. Stir occasionally to prevent it from forming a skin. Let it get to room temperature to serve with the bosc pears.
Making the plates
Making the caramel is the most complicated part of this recipe. For the rest it is a simple dessert. Now it’s time to make the plates. Mix the mascarpone cheese in a small bowl with some orange zest and some poaching syrup. There is no need to add sugar, as the caramel will be added later and will provide enough sweetness. Instead of the orange zest you can also add lemon zest or a little bit of lemon juice. Since the rest of the dish is quite sweet with the wine-poached pears you don’t want the mascarpone to be overly sweet.
You can make this in the bowl of a stand mixer if you prefer but I think it is just as easy to simply mix it with a fork.
Divide the mascarpone between 4 plates and place a whole pear on each plate. If the pear is not standing on it’s own slice a small bit of the bottom of the pear. Or make 1 plate for all the servings. The mascarpone will help the poaching pears stand up. Of course you can also use pear half parts if you prefer. Divide the walnuts among the dessert plate.
Serve the poached pears with mascarpone cream and orange caramel sauce. The caramel sauce is a great finish to this delicious desserts. Simply pour the caramel over the ripe pears.
Alternatives and variations
Obviously if you do not want to make a caramel you can serve the pears and the mascarpone cream with something like maple syrup or honey if you prefer. You pour syrup over the pears, same as the caramel. I think this is a great way to serve delicious poached pears but it can be transformed into any kind of fruit dessert. As for the pears; make sure you poach them long enough so they are soft and delicious. And also allow for enough time to cool pears to room temperature.
It’s definitely one of my favorite seasonal recipes.
Poached pears with mascarpone cream and orange caramel sauce
Ingredients
- 4 poached pears already prepared
- 250 grams mascarpone
- 1 lime zest and juice
- 1 tablespoon poached pear juice
- 50 g walnuts chopped
CARAMEL
- 100 g sugar
- 100 ml orange juice
- 100 g unsalted butter
- Start by stirring the mascarpone. Add the grated rind of 1 lime and some juice. It is also nice to add a tablespoon of the stewed pear juice.
- It’s not sweet, but since the caramel sauce will be on top, you won’t need it.
- Make a bed of the mascarpone on a serving platter and place the poached pears on top. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
- ORANGE CARAMEL SAUCE
- Place the sugar in a saucepan and add three tablespoons of water. Make sure all the sugar is wet.
- Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring the sugar to a boil. Do NOT stir the pan. Above all, stay with it, because once it starts to brown, it will go in a flash.
- If the caramel gets browner on one side than the other, gently swirl the pan back and forth to even it out.
- When the caramel is the right color, add the orange juice. Be careful, it will bubble a lot. It may also suddenly form a lump. Just keep stirring gently and it should dissolve.
- Now add the butter, chunk by chunk, until you have a nice caramel sauce. At this point it will still be thin, but as the caramel cools it will thicken. Pour the cooled sauce over the poached pears and serve.
Nutrition Information per portion
Disclaimer
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
