Poached Pears In Red Wine
Don't you just love a good classic like this delicious Spiced Poached Pears In Red Wine? It's simple but yet brilliantly sophisticated
Ingredients
- 5 small pears (peeled approx 120gm/4oz each) (NOTE 1)
- 750 ml dry red wine (NOTE 2)
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 large strip of orange peel (NOTE 3)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 5 whole cloves
- 2 stick cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla paste (or extract)
- large pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Take your time to peel the pears as you want to make them look as pretty as possible. Use a vegetable peeler to peel as much skin as you can from the pears, you may need to remove any remaining skin near the stem with a small knife. Leave the stems on and cut off a thin layer at the bottom of the pears so they can sit upright.
- Place all the ingredients except for the pears in a medium-sized saucepan, place it over medium heat and bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low and carefully add in the pears.
- Simmer the pears gently in the poaching liquid for 50 to 60 minutes. Turn the pears occasionally so they will colour evenly. Use a knife or skewer to test if the pears are ready, if the skewer slides in effortlessly into the pears, they're done. Remove the pears from the poaching liquid.The poaching liquid will reduce significantly and become syrup-like, spoon this on the pears when serving. Serve the pears warm or at room temperature with ice cream or whipped cream.
Notes
(NOTE 1) Pears -There are a few varieties of pears that are great for poaching. Beurre Bosc, Bartlett, Anjou, Josephine or Corella are great choices. The pears should be perfectly ripe as overripe pears will most likely get mushy during poaching and 'underripe' pears may not absorb the poaching liquid.
(NOTE 2) Red wine – You can use your favourite bottle of red but it doesn’t have to be an expensive bottle. I like using dry red wine in cooking as it’s not as sweet, this allows me to have more control over the level of sweetness in my dish. Dry red wine includes Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Shiraz.
(NOTE 3) Orange peel (or mandarin peel) - I had an orange for this recipe but my husband ate it! I swapped the orange peel for two large strips of mandarin peels. This worked out brilliantly.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information, so this is an approximate guide only.
Leftovers - Allow the pears and syrup to cool at room temperature, then place them in an airtight container and store it in the fridge. They will keep for up to 3 days.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 300kcalCarbohydrates: 50gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gSodium: 5mgPotassium: 199mgFiber: 6gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 57IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 41mgIron: 1mg