Since we’re enjoying our pears around here, we thought we’d share this one before we head off to Mr. N’s new international destination. It doesn’t really fit with any particular region or state; although we did use our Canadian Ice Syrup again. Not to worry if you don’t have any, maple syrup will do the trick. We’re calling these Grilled Pears with Iced Mascarpone.
Start with some Bosc pears, slice them in half, scoop out the core and remove the stem.
Next it’s time to poach the pears. We used a combination of water, white wine, vanilla, lemon juice and sugar for our pears. We first dissolved the sugar before adding the pears to the liquid.
We then simmered the pears over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. In the meantime, we sautéed some diced pancetta for about four or five minutes.
When the pancetta was done, we toasted some chopped walnuts in the grease and oil and reserved them for later. The pears were then removed from the poaching liquid and set aside to cool slightly. We used this time to mix some mascarpone cheese, chopped fresh basil and ice syrup together to serve as our topping once the pears were ready to go.
For the final touches, we heated our grill pan on the stove and placed the pears, fruit-side down on the greased surface. We grilled the pears until they were slightly caramelized, and then scooped the iced mascarpone we had set aside over the top and sprinkled them with the pancetta and walnuts.
Mike and I loved the sweet and savory flavors of this dish. Everything from the sweetness of the iced mascarpone to the crunch of the toasted walnuts came together in a perfect balance. We ate our pears for dinner, but they would make a great side dish or appetizer. As for our spoon ratings, Mike gave the grilled seasonal goodness 3 spoons and I came in at 4 spoons. Since we poached the pears in the wine, we didn’t let the kids have too much. They each got a bite or two, but they both wanted more. Had then been allowed to dig-in, I think they would have come in with pretty high spoon marks too.
If you’re loving pears as much as we are this season, you may also want to check out these beauties at Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide. I’m particularly excited about the cranberry version. Yum! And stay tuned, Mr. N will be our culinary guide for the next few weeks. He’s learning about land forms in school and is planning to pick an island country.
Print this recipe: Grilled Pears with Iced Mascarpone
Fantastic combination of ingredients!
LikeLike
Thanks! 🙂
LikeLike
I have a few little pears just waiting for this recipe! First time I’ve seen one poached and presented with these ingredients. Delicious!
LikeLike
Oh it’s so good! You’ll have to let me know what you think if you end up making it. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh, those look heavenly! And we have some pears lying around…hmmm…
LikeLike
It’s one of my favorite sweet and savory combos that we’ve experimented with. 🙂
LikeLike
Those look delicious!
(Pardon me while I wipe the drool off my keyboard.)
I just added “mascarpone” and “pancetta” to next week’s grocery list.
LikeLike
Yay! You’ll have to let me know if you and Richard like them! 🙂
LikeLike
What a recipe! I never tasted anything similar. Thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
It’s a good one Eftychia! 🙂
LikeLike
ooh how yummy – what a fantastic idea!
🙂 Mandy
LikeLike
Thanks Mandy!
LikeLike
Oh Kristy – I want these in a plate right now! This is my kind of sweet and savory combo, and your photos are stunners.
LikeLike
Thanks! Mine too. 🙂 I also loved the crunch of the walnuts with this dish. It had all of the right stuff going for it. I love when that happens. (Especially when you’re winging it!) 😉
LikeLike
Simply gorgeous! I love the grill marks on the pears. Mascarpone is so perfect with desserts…and then you throw pancetta in the mix?! Couldn’t think of anything more delicious. Those last two photos are great. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Caroline! I actually thought of you when we used the pancetta. 🙂 I had a feeling you would like this one. I’ve actually started keeping a package of it on hand. It works so well with so many things. 🙂
LikeLike
We just did a photoshoot of Holiday gift baskets…I have so much fruit left over! This recipe looks fabulous…I will try it this weekend for Sunday dinner! (I’ll probably sub goats cheese in stead of the mascarpone, only because I always have it at home! I buy the large logs at Costco and cut them into quarters and freeze – goats cheese freezes beautifully)
LikeLike
Goat cheese would be good with this too. And I’m glad you told me that it freezes well. The logs just don’t seem to go fast enough around here, but it would be nice to pull some out of the freezer when I need it. Thanks Eva! 🙂 And a holiday gift basket photoshoot sounds fun!
LikeLike
We made the salad last night and it was DELICIOUS. Thanks for the inspiration, Kristy.
LikeLike
Yay! You made my night Eva! I’m so happy that you enjoyed this dish. 🙂 Thanks for letting me know. You made me happy! 🙂
LikeLike
This looks like a wonderful side dish. I love that the focus was on the fruit and everything else was secondary to compliment the sweetness of the pear. I wonder how apple cider would taste in poaching the pears. I love pancetta, especially as a topping to my salads.
LikeLike
Oh now there’s another great idea – apple cider! And pancetta is one of my favorites – I actually prefer it to bacon. Especially in pasta dishes. Mmmmm!
LikeLike
What a lovely elegant dish! Delicious flavors – lovely recipe – thanks!
Mary x
LikeLike
Sure thing Mary! Have a great weekend. 🙂
LikeLike
Wonderful! I tend to add pear to salads and baked goods but not so much as the starring feature. I’m happy to have a recipe that uses pear as the central focus and it looks so delicious. Love that you iced it 🙂 (what a great idea) and you’ve just reminded me that I don’t use mascarpone nearly enough!
LikeLike
I tend to get a little thing of mascarpone, use it in a recipe and forget that it’s in the fridge until it goes bad. So lately I’ve been adding it to things randomly. It went great in a sweet potato soup I made recently too. 😉
LikeLike
I could eat sweet mascarpone all by itself let alone with pears and pancetta. It sounds out of this world fantastic and so creative. 4 stars from me! It would go great on a salad or with some wild rice or something
LikeLike
Wild rice is another great suggestion. Maybe with some dried cranberries too! Mmmmm. 🙂
LikeLike
Aww…this is a dish I would love! I like too the pairing of sweet and savory. I could enjoy this on a bed of mixed greens and definitely call it dinner!! Love your photos!
LikeLike
Great suggestion – adding this to a salad. I’m definitely going to do that next time we make this. Thanks for the idea Linda!
LikeLike
Love the mixing of sweet with savory. A great recipe, all ’round. If Mr N chooses the Bikini Atoll, will all of that week’s food be microwaved? 😉
LikeLike
If he picks Easter Island, I think we get Peeps!
LikeLike
LOL! I read that to Mr. N and explained the Bikini Atoll to him. He got a kick out of it.
LikeLike
Love the photos! This dish look ridiculously delicious!
LikeLike
Thanks so much! It was definitely good. I’m digging all of the suggestions to add this to a salad. I’m thinking arugula would be fantastic!
LikeLike
Beautiful pears – loving the grill lines on them! I wonder what they’d have been like if you’d used red wine? Could have given a beautiful rosy colour, although not sure if it would have looked so good in the end! Loving that filling too. Sounds so good! Can’t wait to hear what the next destination is. I have a guess, but I think I’ll be wrong!
LikeLike
We did pears in red wine a while back. I forget which country…it was early on. Holland maybe. Those were good too – and so pretty. I’ve been on a kick with cooking with white wine lately which is odd because if I had to pick my favorite wines they’d be red. 🙂
LikeLike
Pancetta and pears, this is something new for me. I know that would taste so good just imagine the contrasting sweet and salty taste it would definitely complement each other.
LikeLike
It was fantastic. I knew we need something to cut through the sweetness of the pears and mascarpone. The pancetta was perfect! 🙂
LikeLike
I agree with Greg, I love that you included the Mascarpone cheese in with these pears. I don’t eat a lot of pears but I know my mom will love this.. and of course I will try it with her. I love cranberry season though :). Wonderful job Kristy..
LikeLike
I’m not huge on pears normally, but for some reason, this year I seem to keep working them into our menus. I just may have a pear/cranberry thing for you next month. 🙂
LikeLike
Oh wow. I love that you have the sweet mascarpone and pancetta. Love it. Thanks for the shout out too!
LikeLike
Sure thing. 🙂
LikeLike
I loved poached pears but the savoury mascarpone topping will take some thinking about. I thought the same thing when I saw the pears at Rufus’ blog. Coincidentally I poached a couple of quinces this past weekend in a spiced syrup inspired by a combination of Rufus’ Food and Spirit Guide and Five Euro Food’s blogs. 🙂
LikeLike
Now that sounds fun! I still need to look for quinces. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one. 🙂
LikeLike
You probably have seen them but they look quite similar to green apples though some varieties are more pear-like in shape. I think the quince jam is wonderful. It smells/tastes like a combination of apples, pears and roses. 🙂
LikeLike
Huh. Honestly I don’t know that I’ve seen them. Unless I have and thought they were pears or something. One of these days I’m going to go to the grocery store on a day I’m not in a hurry and just browse the produce section. 😉
LikeLike
Sorry for giving you the impression that they’re commonly seen in grocery stores. They’re more likely to be found in ethnic grocery stores or city markets. I hadn’t noticed them either until last weekend when I spotted their distinctive shape at our local ‘city’ market and was reminded that Charles (Five Euro Food) had done several posts on them just that past week. Otherwise, my eyes would have just skimmed over them assuming they were apples. 🙂
They’re seasonal fruits and I was surprised to find them locally though south-western Ontario is filled with pick your own fruits/veg stands.
LikeLike
We have a grocery store with a huge produce selection that we stop in when we are looking for hard-to-come-by ingredients. I’ll check in there. 🙂
LikeLike