The best part of November is pear season. My favorite is Seckel pears as they are small and especially cute. I like to let them ripen before slowly poaching them. As I am peeling the skin, the pear should be dripping with juice and soft, not mushy. That's when I know they'll be delicious with a lot of natural sugars, with no need to add a lot of sugar in the poaching liquid. I like to poach them slowly with fall spices to control how cooked they become. I hate mushy fruit; I usually aim for a firm but soft poach. Nothing crunchy, and nothing resembling fruit sauce. I guess it's like Goldilocks, the perfect in-between. This dessert holds the fruit as the star. It is a simple ricotta cake with lemon, hazelnut crumble, bourbon sauce, lemongrass ginger ice cream and garnished with wild strawberries and caramelized hazelnut.