PEARS MELBA

4 firm ripe pears, preferably bosc
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 strip lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sweet wine (Marsala or Madeira)
1/2 cup dry wine
1 pint ice cream (i.e. vanilla, toasted almond, pear)
1 pint raspberries, pureed with 2 tablespoons sugar

Peel, core and halve pears.

Combine sugar, water, lemon peel, vanilla and wines and bring to a boil. Boil 3 minutes.

Add pears and slowly poach in the sauce until tender and infused with sauce. Turn pears occasionally with tongs. Remove pears from sauce. Reduce sauce until very syrupy. Cool.

Place a spoonful of sauce in the bottom of an individual serving bowl. Place a 2-ounce scoop of ice cream on the sauce and top with the poached pear. Drizzle with the pureed raspberries and serve.

Servings: 8
Source: Heidy Haughy Cusik, San Francisco Chronicle, November 25, 1991