Roasted pears and verbena mascarpone mousse

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 4 people, you will need:

• 1 200 ml liquid cream
• 2 4 sprigs Verbena
• 3 4 Pears
• 4 ½ lemon
• 5 50 g butter
• 6 30 g caster sugar
• 7 75 g Mascarpone
• 8 30 g icing sugar
• Total weight: 1,170 grams

Times:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
30 min.	45 min.	8 min.	1 hour 20 min.

Step by step recipe

• 1:

  Verbena-Infused Cream

  
  Pour 200 ml liquid cream into a small saucepan over medium heat, bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and add half of the coarsely chopped 4 sprigs Verbena.
  Stir well, cover, and let steep for at least 30 minutes.
• 2: After this time, pour the contents of the saucepan into a mixing bowl through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing the verbena leaves firmly to extract as much flavor as possible.
  Discard the verbena leaves, and place the cream— covered with plastic wrap or a lid—in the refrigerator.
• 3:

  Roasted Pears with Verbena

  
  Peel 4 Pears, cut them into 4 pieces lengthwise, and remove the cores.
  Cut each quarter into small pieces, place them in a bowl, drizzle with the juice of ½ lemon, and toss to coat.
• 4: In a skillet over medium heat, melt 50 g butter and the other half of the verbena; stir until the butter browns slightly and takes on the flavor of the verbena.
• 5: Add the pear pieces and lemon juice, sprinkle with 30 g caster sugar, and cook until the pear pieces are tender and lightly browned.
  Note: Remove the verbena from the pan and discard it as soon as the first leaves begin to fall off the stems during cooking.
• 6: Transfer to a plate or bowl and let cool.
• 7:

  Mascarpone Cream

  
  In the mixing bowl containing the verbena-infused cream, add 75 g Mascarpone and 30 g icing sugar.
  Whisk everything together, then place the bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes.
• 8: Once the cream is thoroughly chilled, whip it to make mascarpone cream.
  If possible, then transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a fluted tip.
• 9:

  Assembly

  
  Fill the verrines with the pear pieces, pressing them down gently.
• 10: Spread a generous layer of mascarpone cream over the pears, and garnish with a small sprig of verbena.
• 11: Do this for all the verrines, and set them aside in the fridge.

Remarks

This recipe is designed for fresh verbena, but you can also use dried verbena.

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