Name: Poached Seckel Pear with Pomegranate, Cabrales Cheese, and Szechuan Pepper Ice Cream
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 3 cups (750 g/26.4 oz) whole milk; 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp (250 g/8.8 oz) heavy cream; 3 Tbsp plus 1 tsp (20 g/0.7 oz) Szechuan peppercorns; 8 1/2 large (160 g/5.6 oz) egg yolks; 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp (180 g/6.3 oz) granulated sugar; 4 cups (1 kg/2.2 lb) pomegranate juice; 3 to 5 turns freshly ground black pepper; 8 Seckel pears, peeled (you will core them after they are poached); 2 cups (500 g/17.6 oz) poaching liquid from Poached Pears with Pomegranate; 8 3/4 Tbsp (125 g/4.4 oz) unsalted butter; 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp (125 g/4.4 oz) granulated sugar; 1 1/3 cups (125 g/4.4 oz) almond flour; 2 large (100 g/3.5 oz) eggs; 1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp (10 g/0.35 oz) all-purpose flour; 4 oz (113 g) Cabrales cheese, cut into eight 1/2-inch-thick slices; ice cream machine; pepper mill; 9-inch square baking pan; 2-inch-long by 1-inchwide diamond-shaped pastry cutter

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Poached Seckel Pear with Pomegranate, Cabrales Cheese, and Szechuan Pepper Ice CreamRogerio Voltan

Here's another dessert that was inspired by a wine-tasting dinner. It's often hard to come up with a dessert that pairs well with wine, but this savory-sweet dessert does. At its center is a Seckel pear, a small, reddish pear with a slightly spicy flavor. It has a firm flesh that makes it perfect for poaching. In this dessert I poach the pears in pomegranate juice with some ground black pepper. A chunk of Cabrales cheese, a strong blue cheese from northern Spain, is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the pear, and a Szechuan Ice Cream is served with it, sitting on a diamond of baked almond cream.

Recipe notes

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