Pears poached in spicy red wine recipe

Pears Poached in Spicy Red Wine recipe

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About this recipe

In this blog post I will guide you thru the steps and ingredients needed to craft this recipe. Grab your favorite apron and let's start.
This recipe for pears poached in spicy red wine is a delightful and elegant dessert option. The tender pears are gently simmered in a flavorful mixture of red wine, spices, and sugar, resulting in a luscious and fragrant treat. The combination of the warm spices and the sweet, juicy pears creates a harmonious balance of flavors. Perfect for entertaining or simply indulging yourself, this recipe is sure to impress.

Keywords: pears, poached, spicy red wine, dessert, elegant.

Pears poached in spicy red wine recipe details

Pears poached in spicy red wine recipe, recipe Rating: 4.7
Number of votes:117 

Ingredients

6 large	firm pears, peeled but retaining stalks if possible
1	fresh vanilla pod
1 bottle(s)	good quality red wine
225 g	caster sugar
1 stick(s)	cinnamon, broken into two
1 sprig(s)	large, fresh thyme
6 sprig(s)	small, fresh thyme for decoration

Instructions

A good and often easily obtainable variety of pear to use is Comice, William another but other varieties may be used provided that they are slightly under-ripe and therefore not quite ready for eating as fresh fruit. Do not use ripe or over-ripe fruit as the dish will fail.

You need a pan of a size sufficient to contain the pears. They should not touch as there would likely be a ‘bald spot’ where the wine failed to reach and thus remain a lighter colour or still white. It should also be deep enough to allow the pears to be fully covered by the wine. If the pan is too large, you may well need to double the quantities of wine, sugar, spices and herbs.

Because this dessert is served chilled, it may be made 2-3 days in advance.

Split the vanilla pod and scrape out the tiny seeds from both halves and place in the pan. Cut the remainder of the pod halves into 3 and add them to the pan. Add wine, sugar, cinnamon pieces and large sprig of thyme. Lower the pears, stalks uppermost, into the liquid and ensure pears are fully covered. If the stalks are long, they need not be covered.

Bring slowly to boil, reduce heat and simmer while covered for 20-30 minutes. Do not allow liquid to fall below the level of the pears. After 20 minutes, check whether the pears are soft by pressing a cocktail stick into the thickest sections in towards the core. Check them all as they will not necessarily be equally soft. If it goes in easily they are cooked; if not simmer for an extra few minutes.

Due to differences between different wines, and with lengthier simmering times for less-ripe fruits, the colour obtained will vary from dark red, through shades of brown to almost black. This is to be expected.

When soft, lift pears out of pan by using the stalks. Place pears on a dish and allow to cool. They may then be chilled in a refrigerator until ready to serve.

Strain liquid through sieve. Discard thyme but retain cinnamon and vanilla pieces. Return liquid to pan and boil until it is reduced by about half and becomes quite syrupy. Allow to cool, pour into glass container and chill (it may stain ceramics and plastics).

Serve each pear in a glass sorbet or ice cream dish and pour over some of the syrup. Decorate each pear with a piece of cinnamon, a piece of vanilla and a small sprig of fresh thyme.

Preparation time:
ca. 15 min
Grade of difficulty:
easy
Calories per portion:
n/a