Method
Preheat the oven to 220c.
Put the pears into a tight-fitting ovenproof pot or pan. Add the sugar, wine, vanilla bean paste and 1⁄2 the zest and juice of the oranges. Bring to the boil.
Sprinkle over half the walnuts and place in the pre-heated oven to bake.Every so often baste the pears with the syrup they are cooking in to give them a nice glaze.
Cook for around 20 to 30 minutes depending on the ripeness of the pears until they are tender but still holding their shape.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Roast the remaining walnuts on a baking tray in the oven for 5 minutes, make sure you keep an eye on them as they can quickly burn. When the walnuts are done, bash them up with a pestle and mortar until you have a paste.
In a medium sized bowl beat the mascarpone and caster sugar until soft and smooth. Add the walnut paste, the remaining zest and juice of the orange and enough sugar to sweeten and mix to combine.
Serve this cream with the baked pears and nuts, drizzled with some of the cooking syrup.
Ingredients
7g Heilala vanilla bean paste
6 Pears, peeled
185g Brown sugar
1 bottle red wine
3 Oranges, zested and juiced
1 packet Uncle Joe’s walnuts
250g Zany Zeus mascarpone
1-2 teaspoons caster sugar
