Monday, May 25, 2009

Pear Rhubarb Compote Shortcakes

Alrighty. So today I really, really, really wanted shortcake. Guess what? It's too early for much of the tasty summer fruit. Sigh. Luckily rhubarb is abundant!

So I started with this shortcake recipe from epicurious. I used a 2.5 in cutter, and it made about 8-9 shortcakes.

Pear Rhubarb Compote

1 1/3 cups cabernet sauvignon
3/4 cup sugar
zest of about 1/3 of a large orange
2 Bosc pears, peeled, halved and cored
1 lb rhubarb, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

Combine wine, sugar and zest in a saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil. Add pears to wine, lower heat, cover and simmer for 3 minutes. Add the rhubarb. Return to a simmer. Cook for another 7-9 minutes until pears are tender.

Remove fruit with a slotted spoon, and reduce liquid to about a 1/3 the original amount. Pour liquid over the fruit and cool.

Serve 1/4 of a pear and a some of the rhubarb and syrup mixture on each shortcake. Top with whipped cream.

Serves 8