Muscadel-poached pears

Botoxing Muscadel

Going back to basics is the best way of capturing the charm of Muscadel suggests Anna Trapido.

Let's face it, fortified wines are fabulous but they are seldom thought of as contemporary or chic. When the nice lady from WINE magazine sent me an email asking if I could provide a food pairing for the afore-mentioned beverage, I treated myself to a bottle of KWV Muscadel Jerepigo 1975 and waited for alimentary inspiration to strike.

 

Well, I looked at it and it looked at me and between the two of us we were stumped. Trifle seemed too obvious. I mean, suggesting that WINE readers open the bottle and chuck it over sponge cake is hardly a recipe. I like to think of myself as a posh-nosh kind of a girl so I ponced around for a while with the idea of serving up a semifreddo.

Then I pottered about with Muscadel-deglazed pumpkin risotto topped with an elegant crumble of amaretti biscuits. But what you will discover if you try these tricks at home is that Botoxing Muscadel is a bad idea I am now what the French would tactfully refer to as "une femme d'un certain age" and several of my friends have recently acquired unnaturally youthful, frozen faces by way of injections of Botulinum Toxin (Botox).

Like faces, the moment you start modernising Muscadel you reduce its charm. The heady honeyed, floral perfume that is so lovely in a glass becomes an unpleasant caricature of itself when it is sexed up with overly chefy recipes. The rich, sweet generosity of its lingering flavour suddenly seems tarty while the ebullient fruitcake, ripe-raisin plumpness takes on a fat and desperate air.

So I went back to basics, added raisins and naartjie zest to a classic waffle recipe and topped it with a Muscadelpoached pear and dried apricot mélange. I absolutely concede that it would be difficult to think of a less modern, more mummyish dish than waffles and poached pears, but the result is damn fine.

The raisins, naartjies and apricots mirror the flavours of the wine while the clean taste and texture of the pear prevents cloying overload. Besides, the alcohol content in fortified wines is hectically high and since everyone is going to sip while they cook, the recipe really needs to be super simple. Who says you can't be drunk at breakfast time? And why be a botox bitch when you can be a yummy mummy?

Waffles (serves 6)

6 T melted butter
2 cups cake flour
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 t baking soda
1½ t baking powder
pinch of salt
3 large eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
finely grated zest of naartjie
1 t orange essence
1 fistful of raisins

1. Pre-heat the waffle iron.
2. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, zest and raisins.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter and orange essence and mix this liquid into the dry ingredients.
4. In a third bowl, beat the egg whites into stiff peaks and fold into the batter.
5. Ladle the batter into the waffle iron and cook through - about three to five minutes.
The waffles are done when steam stops coming out the sides of the waffle iron.

Muscadel-poached pears
500ml red Muscadel
¼ cup brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
zest and juice of 2 naartjies, julienned
5 pears, peeled and cored
1 fistful of dried apricots

1. Put the wine, sugar, spices and zests in a pot, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and add the pears and apricots.
2. Cook until the pears are fi rm to the touch but tender on the tongue, for about 20 minutes. Turn the pears occasionally to ensure that the poaching liquid absorbs evenly.
3. Remove the fruit with a slotted spoon and allow to cool.
4. Reduce the remaining poaching liquid to a syrupy sauce consistency.