SEATTLE —
Lola’s Baked French Toast, Holiday Poached Pear, Vanilla Mascarpone
Tom Douglas and Company Recipe®
8 servings
INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE POACHED PEARS
- 48 oz pomegranate juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 each star anise pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 each cardamom pods
- 4 pears, slightly under-ripe
FOR THE FRENCH TOAST
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 loaf rustic bread, about 1 ½ lbs, cut into ½ inch cubes
- 6 eggs
- 2 cups half & half
- 1 orange, zest and juice
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoons orange blossom water
- 1.5 tablespoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
FOR THE VANILLA MASCARPONE
- 284 g mascarpone
- 1 half of a vanilla bean
- 82 g sugar
- ¼ tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 12 oz heavy cream
DIRECTIONS:
Combine pomegranate juice, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, and cardamom in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Peel each pear, halve, and remove the core with a small spoon or melon baller. Add pears to poaching liquid and gently cook for about 20 minutes or until just tender all the way through. Use a toothpick to test. Remove pears and place them in a wide bowl to cool.
Continue cooking poaching liquid over high heat to reduce by about half until you have a light syrup. Pour syrup over pears and cool in refrigerator overnight.
Use the butter to grease the inside of a 3.5-quart baking dish and set aside. Whisk eggs with half & half, orange, orange blossom water, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Combine with bread and soak for 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to the baking dish and refrigerate overnight.
Cream mascarpone, sugar and vanilla bean until smooth in an electric mixer. Scrape down the sides of bowl. Slowly stream in cream, stopping to scrape along the way to avoid lumps. Once all the cream is in, it will look very thin. This is ok. Keep mixing and it will start to thicken up like whipped cream. Stop mixing when the mixture has thickened and is shiny and smooth. Fold in salt and vanilla extract. Refrigerate.
When ready to serve, bake the french toast at 350° for 45 minutes, until top is browning/crisping and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Warm pears in their syrup and serve with vanilla mascarpone.
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