Weekend Cooking: Poached Pears

Back in December last year I went for dinner at 15 which is a Jamie Oliver project (you can read my post about that experience here). For dessert I had a really beautiful poached peach and ever since then I have been waiting until it is a more suitable time for me to try poaching some fruit, in this case, pears. Now, with the cold weather setting in, it seemed like a really good time to try this recipe out, although it does turn out that the recipe suggests eating them cold!

As an aside, I always feel as though I have to add a disclaimer when I talk about it being cold here because the temperature where we think it is cold, is very different to what many of the other parts of the world consider cold!

I do remember trying to make poached pears many years ago now for some dinner guests who never turned up, and they were delicious, but I am not sure if this is the same recipe, but it sounds similar.

The boy and I are planning to make this tomorrow night. I am fully expecting him to help make it, but not try it so I could be eating this for a week.

Photo credit

Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears (recipe from Taste.com.au)

• 500ml (2 cups) dry red wine
• 70g (1/3 cup) caster sugar
• 2 whole star anise
• 2 x 7cm cinnamon sticks
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 4 just-ripe packham's triumph
• pears, peeled
• 1 x 250g ctn mascarpone
• 2 tbs icing sugar mixture
• 2 tsp rosewater

1. Combine the wine, sugar, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until sugar dissolves. Add the pears and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, turning occasionally, for 1 hour or until pears are tender. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pears to a heatproof bowl.
2. Increase heat to high and bring the syrup to the boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until syrup thickens slightly. Pour over the pears and set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 4 hours to chill.
3. Place the mascarpone, icing sugar and rosewater in a medium bowl and stir to combine.
4. Transfer the pears to a serving dish and drizzle with syrup. Serve with rosewater mascarpone.

**You can use vanilla essence and rosewater essence if you desire.

 Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.