Poached Pear on Pavlova

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought it would be a fitting time to share a sweet, romantic dessert, Poached Pear on Pavlova, which is actually a combination of two desserts: the Pavlova and Poached Pears. It's a very unusual combination, because it was born out of a failed batch of Pavlovas which I made for a party at my home last Christmas. But I managed to salvage the situation and turn it into a fantastic and delicious, impressive finale for an otherwise great dinner. After serving this, there were audible Ooohs! Aaahs! and a lot of WOWs around the table. Of course, the inevitable happened; the meal was suspended as people whipped their phones out to take a picture of the beautiful dessert before them. :)

Who would believe this dessert was born out of failure?

My original plan for dessert was to serve individual, personal sized pavlovas, topped with cream and fresh fruits, like I usually do. I've been making pavlovas for the past 7 years, serving them at parties at home, and it never fails to impress. This national dessert of New Zealand looks so beautiful and complicated, but it is actually very easy to do.

Chocolate Pavlova, topped with fresh strawberries and shaved chocolate. Big version, for sharing.

Pavs are very easy to make, if the humidity cooperates with you and you haven't temporarily lost your mojo. Anyway, for the party that week, I started with making the personal sized pavs with the following recipe:

PERSONAL SIZE PAVLOVAS

4 egg whites

1/2 tsp salt

150 grams sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vinegar

Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Get a mug or a cup (I used a plastic one, 4" in diameter) and draw circles on the paper. Make sure there is at least a 1 inch distance between the circles as the pavs tend to expand while baking.

In a mixing bowl, put the egg whites and beat on low speed.  Add the salt. Beat some more, and SLOWLY add the sugar, until the mix forms soft, satiny peaks. Do not mix at high speed because this tends to create a lot of big air bubbles, causing your pav to collapse later.

Once you have soft peaks, fold the cornstarch, vanilla extract and vinegar into the pav. The cornstarch and vinegar are what give structure to the pav and make it chewier vs the typical meringue.

Get a big spoon and spread the mix on the baking sheet, using the circles that you drew as a guide.  Put about 2 dollops per circle and try to flatten the top with the back of your spoon. This makes putting the cream and fruit toppings easier.

Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. At the end of that process, turn off the oven (including the light), and leave the pavs there with the door slightly ajar (I put a silicone trivet in between the door and the frame) for at least 3 hours or even overnight, if you wish (and which is better). This allows the pavs to completely dry out.

And the last step is where my pavs failed because I did not follow my own instructions! I took them out of the oven too early, and after awhile, they started to collapse and look FLAT.  :(  I had just made pavs at home a few days ago for the hubby and son, and the pavs were a success (see below). They were fluffy but firm, but this batch I just made didn't look like this at all:

My personal size pavlova, with cream, fresh strawberries, pomegranates and passionfruit.

So this was the day before the party at my house. Dessert is something my guests really look forward to, and I did not want to serve these flat discs of egg white. Later in the evening, we went on an impromptu trip to the grocery and I saw some small, 2 1/2 inch sweet pears and voila! An idea came to my mind: I would serve poached pears on top of the pavlova disks, along with some berries. I would use the pavs as some sort of "stand" for the pears and cover up my fiasco!

Here's the recipe for my POACHED PEARS:

Small pears (about 2 to 3" height would be good; I once used some Ercolini mini pears from Spain but this last one I bought a few days ago were from China and were just as good)

2 cup of sweet red wine or Port

2 cinnamon sticks

5 pieces star anise

1/2 cup white sugar, if using dry red wine or 1/3 cup if using Port

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Juice from one orange

1/4 cup of red wine or Port (this is for thickening the sauce later)

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Cut the base of the pear so that it stands by itself firmly. Peel the skin off your pears with a small paring knife or peeler. Do not remove the stems, as you need this to hold on to the pears while poaching.  Plus, the poached pear looks more beautiful with those stems intact.

Poaching the baby pears in spiced port.

Put the rest of the ingredients except the last two in a small pot and heat to a slow boil. Drop the pears into the pot, standing up (stem side up). It's possible that the liquid will not cover the whole pear, but that's ok because you'll turn them over later.  Simmer until soft but firm. To test firmness, take a toothpick and gently put it into the pear to see if it is soft enough. Do not overcook or they will turn mushy.

When they are soft, gently turn them over with a spoon. Simmer till the tops are soft and firm too.

When done, gently take out the pears and put them on a strainer on top of a bowl. Cool. Put back any liquid that you collect from the bowl back into the pot.

In the meantime, go back to that rich, pear infused sauce in the pot, which is still simmering on top of the stove. Get 1/4 cup of red wine and port, and mix it with the cornstarch, using a wire whisk. Turn up the fire a bit to get the sauce on a medium boil, then add the wine/cornstarch mix, whisking vigorously until it thickens and the cornstarch is well integrated, about 5 minutes.  Turn off the stove.

At this point, assemble the pears and pour the thick sauce on top of them, glazing them and giving them a shiny, beautiful hue. 

I once served this for breakfast for the Hubby and my Son, with some homemade Belgian waffles. Delicioso!

Poached Pears with Belgian Waffles

Now back to my failed dessert for that dinner party....Poached Pears on Pavlovas, which is really what this post is all about.

POACHED PEAR ON PAVLOVA

Whip 1 cup of cream until you form stiff peaks. Do not overbeat or you will have butter!

Get one of the (failed!) pavlova disks and assemble on a plate.  Put a dollop of cream on top of the disk. Put one of the cooled poached pears in the centre of the pav. (If your pav has a peak or is not flat, break it with a spoon to flatten it, so that the pear will stand up firmly. Make sure your pears are at least at room temperature and are not warm, or they will make the cream runny.)

Decorate the borders with fresh, sliced strawberries and blueberries and a sprig of mint.  Get some of the thickened sauce and drizzle it on top of the pear.  

Serve immediately for instant gratification.  I guarantee that you will hear Ooooohs and Aaaaahs and your guests will whip out their phones to take a picture of your dessert before they dig in.

Success which was born out of a failure!  Bon Appetit!