Spiced Pear Bellini

As this audience might have imagined by now, I adore cooking, but it is hard work. I often find that a little sip of something special can mitigate the fatigue. Despite the undaunted efforts of my sommelier friends to counter the tendency, I continue to enjoy light fruity drinks often based on prosecco, a bottle of which is a staple in my refrigerator.

I view prosecco as a blank slate that allows me to raid my pantry of spices, syrups, fruits and even jams...kind of like the crostata of drinks.

This is my latest toastworthy obsession, born during a recent visit to New York, where I sipped a sparkling pear concoction for the better part of a mid-Eastern flair brunch in this lovely restaurant with my darling friend Andrea.

Bellini invernale speziato alle pere

Spiced pear winter Bellini

for 1 bottle of prosecco

3 pears

1 lemon

1/4 cup+2 tablespoons+2 tablespoons fine sugar

cinnamon to taste

1 Fuyu persimmon

1 small pomegranate

While the prosecco is chilling, quarter, core and chunk the pears. Zest and juice the lemon.

Mix the sugar with enough cinnamon to make it agreeable to your taste.

Place the pear chunks, zest, lemon juice and the quarter cup of sugar in the blender jug and add 3 cups of room temperature water.

Start the motor and blend until a fine, runny purè is yielded.

In the meantime, slice half the persimmon paper thin and seed the pomegranate.

Fill the bottom third of a flute with the blended pear and sink in a slice of persimmon and 3 to 4 pomegranate seeds.

Slowly top with prosecco, letting it slide down the side to minimize foam.

Sprinkle the foam left on top with a pinch of the remaining cinnamon sugar.

Raise your glass and sip slowly while slaving away on that timballo di pasta.

NOTES:

You can swap cinnamon for a spice with a similar profile, like clove, nutmeg or even ginger
If you use pears with a red peel (Crimson or Red Bartlett, for example) your glass will be festively rosy
Use a sparkling rosè for an even more intense festive look