Simple and Sophisticated Poached Pears

 

Poached pears are an easy, sophisticated way to build a salad or a dessert. They're also relatively light, which is good for those who are diet conscious.

All you do is simmer pears in red wine, along with sugar and spices, if you want. You are left with gorgeous red-hued pears, creamy white inside and tender. They are sweet, rich and slightly spicy with cinnamon and cloves. We like to add fresh bay leaves or star anise to our poaching liquid too.

The pears can be halved and filled with lightly sweetened whipped cream or mascarpone, or served with an orange sauce, for an elegant dessert. Or they can be sliced up and tossed with blue cheese and dark greens for a winter salad. They are made ahead and keep fine in the fridge.

Many recipes instruct you, however, to discard the red wine after you have poached the pears. We were surprised at this since it is at this point nearly identical to the base recipe for one our very, very favorite dessert tricks: spiced red wine syrup.

We put this over everything -- vanilla ice cream, orange cake, custard. It's full of flavor and sweetly rich and delicious. Plus it's even easier than the pears; you just simmer down a bottle of red wine with some sugar and cinnamon until it's a thick, shiny syrup.

The liquid remaining from the pears is perfect for simmering down and reducing into a syrup like this. Add extra spices if you want. If you don't have time to reduce it on the spot, then pour into a bag and freeze until you want it.

My personal recommendation is poached pears, homemade vanilla ice cream and spiced red wine syrup poured over it all. Yum!

Pears Poached in Red Wine

Serves 6.

1 bottle red wine

5-6 pears, peeled

1 1/2 cups sugar

Spices (two cinnamon sticks, a few cloves, a few coriander seeds or whatever you want)

Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until pears are tender. Let pears cool in the poaching liquid. Drain off poaching liquid and slice the pears to serve.

To make Spiced Red Wine Syrup:

Simmer down the poaching liquid from pears, until about 1 cup remains. Don't let it burn, and cover slightly to keep red wine from spattering on your stove. Will keep very well in the fridge or freezer.

 

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Simple and Sophisticated Poached Pears

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