Poached Pear Galette with Blue Cheese Ice Cream

For the poached pears:
Add all ingredients except for the pears into a pot and boil together. Once it hits a boil, turn the heat down and add the pears. Place a lid on top and cook for 30 minutes. Next, remove the pears from the liquid, put them into a bowl and immediately place in the refrigerator until cold.

Next, simmer down the pear poaching wine liquid until it becomes a thick syrup, about 20 minutes. Cool once it has become thick.

For the galette dough:
Add all of the ingredients (except for the ice water, egg, milk and sugar in the raw) into a food processor and process for 10 seconds. Next, slowly trickle in some of the ice cold water and continue trickling in more as you mix, until the dough is formed and flaky.

Place the dough on a clean surface and form into a disk. At this point you can wrap it in a sheet of plastic and chill or you can immediately roll it out.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Put dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick, and then place it on a sheet pan that you’ve lined with parchment paper. Then slice the chilled pears. Layer the pears starting from the center of the dough and leaving about a 2-inch border around the edge. Then fold up all the sides so that the crust covers some of the pears (the center pears will not be covered).

Next, mix together the egg and milk in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, brush the outside of the dough with the egg wash and then sprinkle with the sugar in the raw.

Bake in the oven on 400°F for 45 minutes.

For the ice cream (recipe makes about 1 1/2 quarts):
Put the cream in a large pot and bring it almost to a boil but don’t let it come to a full boil (scald it). Remove from heat. Put the blue cheese, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt in a large heat safe bowl. Pour the hot cream mixture over it and whisk until combined.

Chill the mixture in the refrigerator until completely cool and then pour it into your ice cream maker and churn ice cream according to manufacturer’s instructions.

To serve: Serve the galette topped with a scoop of the ice cream and some of the Merlot sauce.