Ingredients

Recipe

Peel the pears, keeping them whole, and remove the stems. Put the pears in a saucepan and cover with 2 cups water. Add the zest of 1 lemon, juice of 2 lemons, 1⁄3 cup of the sugar, and the ginger. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Remove the pears and cook the liquid down over medium-high heat until it is reduced to 1⁄2 cup of syrup (about 10 minutes). Let cool. For the chocolate mousse, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Stir in the rum and cook for a few minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate pieces and egg yolk to the cream-rum mixture and combine. Beat the egg whites until firm, adding the 2 tablespoons sugar bit by bit. Mix 1⁄3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture (which should be lukewarm). Fold in the remaining egg whites. Refrigerate the mousse for 2 hours. Serve it as an accompaniment to the gingered pears, drizzled with the reserved syrup.