Pear Compote with Elderflower and Ice Cream

For the compote, rinse and sort the elderberries. Peel the pears, cut in half, remove the seeds and cut into slices. Mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of red wine until smooth. Caramelize the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, deglaze with the remaining red wine and bring to a boil. Thicken with the cornstarch mixture and simmer over low heat for 4-5 minutes. Add the slit vanilla pod, lemon peel, cinnamon, and elderberries. Stir in the pear slices and sauté all together briefly until soft. Season with lemon juice, let cool slightly and remove the spices.

The compote may be served with vanilla ice cream.

For the vanilla ice cream, cut the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and bring to a boil with the vanilla bean, cream, and milk.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy in a bowl.

Slowly stir the boiling milk into the egg yolk, pour everything back into the pot, remove the vanilla pod and stir over low heat with a wooden spoon until the cream begins to thicken (do not boil).

Pour the custard through a sieve and leave to cool in a bowl over an ice water bath, stirring occasionally.

Pour the cold cream into an ice cream maker and process, following the manufacturer's directions.

(If no ice cream machine is available, pour the mixture into a shallow metal tray and place in the freezer, stirring every 15 minutes for the first hour to break up larger ice crystals.)