Wine Poached Apples with Pistachio Chantilly Cream
Ingredients for poached apples:
- 3 red apples
- 3 ½ cups of red wine
- 1 ¼ lbs of granulated sugar
- 1 tsp of lemon juice
- ½ tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 cinnamon stick
Ingredients for pistachio chantilly cream:
- ¼ of a cup of honey roasted pistachios
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- ⅓ of a cup of sugar
- ¼ tsp of vanilla extract
Yield: 3 poached apples
Step 1: using an apple corer and a peeler peel and core 3 red apples.
Step 2: in a sauce pot combine 3 ½ cups of red wine, 1 ¼ lbs of granulated sugar, 1 tsp of lemon juice, ½ tsp of vanilla extract, and 1 cinnamon stick. Stir all ingredients until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is blended. Bring the wine mixture to a simmer over medium heat.
Step 3: Once the wine mixture is lightly simmering add the 3 peeled and cored red apples. Note: The apples will not be completely submerged in the poaching liquid so you will need to flip them half way through the cooking process. Simmer the apples for 5 minutes and then flip them over and cook for 5 more minutes until the apples are completely poached and tender.
Step 4: Remove the apples from the poaching liquid and carefully place them onto a pan or a plate and allow them to cool off under refrigeration. Note: You can layer paper towels on the plate or pan you use to soak up the excess liquid that drains as the apples chill.
Step 5: Take the sauce pot with the remaining poaching liquid and reduce the liquid by half over high heat. Note: Reducing by half refers to cooking the liquid down until you have half the amount you started with. This allows the wine mixture to thicken and condenses the flavors from the ingredients. Once the wine mixture has fully reduced, set the sauce aside and allow it to cool away from the heating element.
Step 6: Using a spice grinder or a bladed food processor, grind ¼ of a cup of honey roasted pistachios until all the pistachios are ground up. Note: If you don’t have a spice grinder or food processor you can carefully chop up the pistachios using a knife and a cutting board.
Step 7: In a mixing bowl with a wire whip or with a mixer using a beater attachment combine 1 cup of heavy cream, ⅓ of a cup of sugar, and ¼ tsp of vanilla extract. Whip all ingredients until a stiff peak has formed. Note: A stiff peak refers to the whipped cream forming a peak as the whip is removed. It will have the consistency of a store bought whipped cream such as Reddi-wip.
Step 8: Fold in and combine the ground pistachios to the whipped Chantilly cream. Once pistachios are mixed in, transfer the Chantilly cream into a pastry bag.
Step 9: On a serving plate carefully ladle or spoon a small amount of the wine sauce onto the bottom of the plate. Place a poached apple directly onto the sauce and pipe the chantilly cream into the hollowed core of the poached apple. Repeat this process with the remaining apples. You can optionally choose to top the apples with a few whole pistachios and a mint leaf for a little added eye appeal. I included a visual step by step process of this recipe in the video below.
Note: You may have some excess wine sauce and Chantilly cream left over. If you want, during step 3 you can poach more apples in separate batches while slowly reducing the wine mixture. Also the excess wine sauce goes great over ice cream and can be utilized in a variety of ways including mixed drinks.