Match Made in Heaven

Everyone has a list of personal favorite food pairings. The classics may include peanut butter with jelly, grapes with cheese, pita with hummus, and burgers with fries. But I have a newfound food pair that might just blow your taste buds out of foodie heaven and back-
poached pear and salted caramel ice cream.

Since words cannot describe the explosive yet refined fireworks that these two create, here is a photo while I gather my words.

The silky salted caramel ice cream was from Carmela, a small-batch local ice cream shop that has its roots at farmers markets. In fact, that's how I stumbled upon the glorious flavors the folks at Carmela whip up. Since then, I have become a frequent patron who might be frequently too often.

Poached pear with salted caramel ice cream is one of the few desserts that would work warm or chilled. Serve warm during the winter time and chilled when the thermostat climbs. Elegant enough for a dinner party but no-fuss enough to be enjoyed while playing Scrabbles in your pajamas, just like Carmela's ice creams. I suspect the salted caramel goodness on poached apricots or grilled peach will be equally scrumptious... which shall be confirmed in a few months when these stone fruits are in season again!

To recreate: 

• Empty the contents of a 750 mL bottle of dessert wine into saucepan. Add a 1 or 2 cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of apple cider (apple juice will work, too).
• Peel and soak d'anjou pears in a slightly salty water to prevent browning. 
• Cut pears in half, lengthwise. Core out the center with a melon baller. 
• Drain and rinse pears in water before dropping into cooking liquid. 
• Cook over medium heat until pears are soft but not mushy. It will take a while to cook, especially if the pears aren't very ripe. Enjoy your dinner meanwhile and let the fruit simmer. 
• When ready to serve, let pears cool for a few minutes before adding a small scoop of ice cream on top (don't want the salty caramel goodness to melt away so fast!) 
• Or let the fruit and liquid cool and store in glassware for tomorrow's dinner party! 

For this recipe, I used Trader Joe's 2009 Late Harvest Moscato from Paso Robles. The sweeter the wine, the sweeter your fruit will be since no sugar is added to cook the fruit.