Former Iron Chef contestant, James Rigato, from Mabel Grey in Hazel Park stopped by 7 Action News This Morning to whip up a special holiday dish.
Red Wine Poached Pear Salad
Ingredients for poaching liquid:
1 bottle good red wine,
1 vanilla bean split and scraped,
1 star anise,
1 cinnamon stick,
1 dried red chile,
8-10 peppercorns,
1 bay leaf,
1 orange peeled (peels included) halved and squeezed,
salt to taste,
1/4 - 1/2 cup sugar depending on your preferred level of sweetness.
Simmer everything together until nicely seasoned.
Turn heat down to gently steaming, not simmering.
Peel 3 pears and cut away from the core in 3 even pieces top to bottom. Add them to the liquid. Gently poach until a knife slides in with gentle resistance. Let cool in liquid. Keeps for about a week.
Mix 1 cup mascarpone and 1/3 cup local honey with a pinch of salt.
Purchase 2 ounces of prosciutto per person you're serving, shaved thin from your local market.
Split one head radicchio and char quickly over a grill or burner. Shave thin.
Plate salad with a schmear of mascarpone/honey mixture on the plate.
Slice the pears 1-2 times per pear and gently fold the prosciutto into fluffed stacks between the pear slices.
Top with shaved radicchio and scatter some marcona almonds over the salad. A drizzle of the poaching liquid, olive oil and fresh cracked pepper rounds it out nicely.
