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Pear and Red Wine Sorbet

5.0(141)

This sorbet might sound unusual, but it's a sophisticated (and delicious) twist on the standard one-note fruit sorbet: the sweetness of the pears and the acidity of the red wine balance each another out, a sprinkle of black pepper adds bite and a baseline of cinnamon and vanilla warm it all up. It couldn't be easier to make (sauté, blend and freeze) and it's gorgeous to boot.

by Martha Rose Shulman

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Dessert

Servings

One quart

Total time

Calories / serving

68 kcal

Ingredients (8)

serves

2 1/2 pounds ripe pears (4 medium to large pears, like Bartlett pears)pear
1/2 cup sugar, preferably organic fair-tradesugar
1 1/2 cups red winered-wine
1 1/2 cups waterwater
1 2- or 3-inch cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extractvanilla-extract
Pinch of freshly ground black pepperpepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juicelemon-juice

Instructions (4 steps)

01Peel, core and quarter the pears. Place them in a medium saucepan with the sugar, red wine, water, cinnamon stick and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the pears are soft and translucent. This will take 15 to 20 minutes if the pears are ripe and soft to begin with, or about 30 minutes if they’re somewhat hard. Add the pepper.
02Using tongs, remove the pears to a bowl. Remove the cinnamon stick from the poaching liquid, and discard. Turn up the heat, and reduce until the mixture has the consistency of a thin syrup. (This step may be unnecessary, depending on how long you cooked the pears and how juicy they were.)
03Place the pears, in batches, in a blender, or place all of them in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Purée until smooth. Slowly add the poaching liquid and the lemon juice, and blend together. Transfer to a bowl, and chill. Meanwhile, place a 1-quart container in the freezer.