Red Wine–Poached Pears w/Goat Cheese Sabayon, Pumpernickel + Pine Nuts

I like this as a replacement for a traditional cheese course or as the first course of a meal. As mentioned earlier, poaching can be done in large or small batches. If you want to get ahead or simply need to move a lot of pears, the volume of pears called for can be doubled or tripled, just make sure that the pears are fully submerged in the cooking liquid.