Asian Pear Frozen Yogurt
8 Asian pears
2 ½ cups plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoon lemon juice
1 dry bay leaf
1 vanilla bean, split length wise and scraped
Place the yogurt in a fine sieve or cheesecloth line strainer over a bowl. Refrigerate for about one hour, until about ½ cup liquid has drained from the yogurt; discard liquid and set yogurt aside. Peel core and chop pears into ½ inch pieces. Combine pears, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla bean and seed scrapings and the bay leaf in a saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat until the syrup thickens and pears are very soft; about 25 minutes. Process or puree the mixture in a bowl until smooth. Pass the puree through a fine sieve or cheesecloth line strainer into a bowl over an ice water bath. Discard the solids. Let stand until chilled. Remove from ice water bath and add yogurt into the pear mixture, whisking. Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturers instructions.
1 ¼ quarts