Poached Pears With Blackberry Honey Crème Fraiche

Photo: sonia sanchez

Ingredients

For the pears:

1 cup 100% pure honey

6 large pears

1 bottle Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon

2 cinnamon sticks

6 black peppercorns

1 orange

1 lemon

For the blackberry honey crème fraiche:

8 ounces crème fraiche

1/2 cup 100% pure honey

2 baskets sweet fresh blackberries

6 large mint leaves

Preparation

Bring the wine and 1 liter of water to a boil then lower to medium heat. Cut the lemon and orange in half and squeeze into the poaching liquid removing the seeds. Add the 100% pure honey, cinnamon sticks and peppercorns.

Carefully peel the pears leaving the stem on. Gently drop the pears into the poaching liquid and cook for about 1 hour until a paring knife can be inserted into the center of the pear. Remove the pears from the liquid, drain and refrigerate.

Put half of the crème fraiche and ¼ cup of the 100% pure honey and 1 basket of the blackberries into a blender. Gently pulse until blended. Pass the mixture through a sieve and refrigerate.

Mix the remaining crème fraiche with the remaining honey. On a plate, place the chilled pear standing up in the center of each plate and drizzle the 2 flavors of crème fraiche and sprinkle the whole berries around the pear. Next to the stem, insert 1 mint leaf.