Baked Pears in Zinfandel and Dessert Cuvée Glaze
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Zinfandel
- 1 cup Kunde Family Winery 1904 Dessert Cuvée
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 inch piece of lemon and orange zest
- 8 Bosc pears - ripe but firm with stems attached
- Fresh mint leaves
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium non-aluminum saucepan over medium heat, bring all ingredients, excluding pears and mint, to a simmer and dissolve the sugar. Remove the cinnamon stick. Core the pears from the bottom and then cut the bottom flat so that they can stand upright. Place the pears in a large baking pan (upright) and pour wine mixture over them. Bake for about an hour or until pears are tender when pierced with a knife, basting every 15 minutes with the wine mixture. Remove pears from the oven and pour off remaining mixture into a medium saucepan. Reduce the wine until it becomes a glaze. Spoon the glaze over the pears. Garnish with mint leaves and serve warm with ice cream if desired. These pears are also excellent served at room temperature. Serves 8.