Marscapone Stuffed Grilled Pears with Ginger Syrup

Here's a winner. A grilled/griddled fruit dessert that presents elegantly, tastes great, and is beyond easy to make. If you have some small dessert bowls, martini glasses or other creative service wear, use them to showcase this easy fruit based dessert. If you attended a recent What's Cooking? class at Sevananda Natural Foods Market, or the opening night of the National Black Arts Festival, then you got a chance to sample this dish. Here's how it goes:

Pears:

3 ripe pears, peeled, halved, seeds scooped out
2 Tbs butter or oil

Brush hot grill or griddle with oil or butter. Place pears on cooking surface, cut side down. Cook about 5 minutes on one side (or until carmelized to a golden brown). Flip pears over and continue cooking for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and arrange on a serving platter, cut side up.

Ginger Syrup:

1 cup brown or turbinado sugar
1 cup water
1" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Combine all three ingredients. Bring up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Allow to continue cooking until reduced by half. Remove from heat and allow to thicken slightly.

Marscapone:

3 oz marcapone cheese
1/4-1/2 of the ginger syrup

Combine enough ginger syrup to sweeten the marscapone cheese. Refrigerate to chill until ready to serve.

Granola:

for garnish

TO SERVE:
Scoop a generous quenelle by using two spoons to make a football shaped ball out of the marscapone mixture. Place a scoop on top of each pear half. Top each quenelle with a generous sprinkling of crumbled granola for texture. Drizzle ginger syrup over each pear. The warm syrup will melt the marscapone to form a creamy, sweet sauce. Yum!