INGREDIENTS
Poached Pears
1 cup sugar
3 cups white wine or white grape juice
3 cups water
Zest of 1 orange, in 1 by 3-inch strips
1 cinnamon stick
8 whole cloves
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 slightly underripe Bosc pears, peeled and cored, with stems intact

Chocolate Sauce
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup Fra Angelico liqueur
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
8 ounces shaved semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream or low-fat frozen yogurt, softened, for serving.

SERVES
6 connoisseurs

Pears Belle Hélène Recipe

This classic French recipe stands a poached pear in ice cream topped with chocolate sauce like a sundae. A low-fat frozen yogurt can also be used. Use a tall, elegantly shaped, and long-stemmed poaching pear like the Bosc.

To make the poached pears, combine all the ingredients except the pears in a nonaluminum Dutch oven or soup pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the peeled pears, stem side up, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pears are just tender. (Ripe pears will cook much quicker.) Remove the pears from the poaching liquid with a slotted spoon and regfrigerate for at least 2 hours. The poaching liquid can be stored and reused.

To make the chocolate sauce, bring the cream, liqueur, sugar, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add the chocolate, and cover. After 3 minutes, blend in the chocolate until the sauce is smooth. (The sauce can be prepared several days ahead and chilled.)

To assemble, warm the chocolate sauce, if chilled, over low heat or in a double boiler. If it is too thick, add a few drops of cream. Place a large spoonful of vanilla ice cream in each dessert cup. Stand a chilled pear in the ice cream and spoon the warm chocolate sauce over the pears. Serve immediately, with your best silver spoons.
C’est merveilleux!

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