Vanilla Poached Pear with Granola and Lavendar Leaves

Recipe from Nikki Cascone

Ingredients

6 pears – peeled, cored and sliced about 1.4 inch thick
1/2 pound butter
1 vanilla bean
1 cup brown sugar
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 pinch salt
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/5 lb of crunchy Granola

Cream:
1 pint heavy cream
1 tbl spoon lavender water or if fresh lavender make lavender sugar (see below)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 vanilla bean

1/5 lb of Good Quality crunchy Granola – toasted

Granola:
(Makes 15 cups)
8 cups Quaker Oats
1 cup Raisins
1 cup Dried Cranberries
3 cups Sliced almonds
1 cup Honey
1 cup Maple syrup (good quality)
1 cup packed Light Brown Sugar or Muscovado
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Salt

Poach Pear in butter, lemon and vanilla bean, add sugar. Add salt and wave the rosemary sprig throughout to mixture just to extract the flavor then discard. Partially Strain the liquid and reserve warm.  

Toast the Granola and whip the cream with all the ingredients.

Directions

To assemble pear tart:
Place a 1/2 cup of granola on a sheet pan to heat in a 300 degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes. In a sauce pan heat up approximately 3/4 of pear mixture make sure to include poaching liquid. Heat till pears are warm throughout.
Remove granola from oven and place half of the heated granola to bottom of the dish, place heated pears on top, and cover the top with the remaining heated granola. Top with a scoop of lavender muscovado whipped cream and serve immediately.

Lavender Whipped Cream:
Combine in a mixing bowl heavy cream and muscovado sugar and toasted lavender, a small amount of powder sugar and one vanilla bean scraped.
Whip altogether to stiff peaks.

TO MAKE LAVENDER SUGAR
Use the flowers chop finely, mix with regular sugar and toast for about 5 minutes.  Let cool and sprinkle as garnish on finished dessert.  If time allows leave vanilla bean and fresh lavender in the powdered sugar for the whipping cream recipe a day in advance so that it picks up all the floral accents.  Remove again before mixing.

Granola Recipe:
In a small sauce pan combine honey, and maple syrup and heat incorporating all together.  In a large bowl combine Oats, Almonds, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon, finish mixture with honey and maple syrup mixture. Mix well and spread mixture on a parchment lined sheet pan.
Place in a 300 degree oven and bake for 40minutes rotating and stirring the mixture every 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Once cooled crumble mixture in a large bowl and incorporate raisins and dried cranberries.

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