Wine Poached Pears Recipes

Steps:

• In a 4-quart saucepan, combine wine, sugar, orange juice, zest, cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. While liquid is simmering, peel pears, leaving stem intact and being careful not to blemish the flesh of the pears. Slice 1/2-inch off the bottom of the pears to create a flat bottom. Gently place pears in poaching liquid, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes to ensure even color, until pears are cooked but still firm. Remove saucepan from flame, uncover and cool with pears upright in pan. Once cool, cover and chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally, if desired. Gently remove pears from liquid and allow to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, reduce liquid by about half over a medium-high flame for 15 minutes, until liquid is thicker and slightly syrupy. Remove from flame and let liquid come to room temperature. Drizzle each pear with 2 tablespoons syrup and serve.

Steps:

• Halve the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the black seeds and put in a large saucepan with the wine, sugar, cinnamon and thyme. Cut each piece of pod into three long thin strips, add to pan, then lower in the pears.
• Poach the pears, covered, for 20-30 mins, making sure they are covered in the wine. The cooking time will very much depend on the ripeness of your pears - they should be tender all the way through when pierced with a cocktail stick. You can make these up to 2 days ahead and chill.
• Take the pears from the pan, then boil the liquid to reduce it by half so that it's syrupy. Serve each pear with the cooled syrup, a strip of vanilla, a piece of cinnamon and a small thyme sprig.

Steps:

• Trim flat the bottoms of pears, and stand them upright in the bottom of a large stock pot. Pour the wine and water into the pot, and turn the flame to high heat. Sprinkle with sugar, and add vanilla bean, star anise, cinnamon stick, and lemon and orange peels. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium low, and simmer 20 to 25 minutes. Remove pot from stove, and let cool completely. Reserve 1/4 cup poaching liquid. Transfer pears to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate.
• Place 2 poached pears in a blender or food processor, and puree. Remove to a large bowl. Whisk in walnut oil, red wine vinegar, and reserved poaching liquid. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and refrigerate.
• Place pears in individual bowls, and top with sauce.

Steps:

• Halve the lemon, and remove 3 wide strips of rind. Peel the pears, leaving a topknot of skin and the stem, if it's attached; rub with the cut lemon. Working from the bottom, core the pears.
• Choose a pot that will hold the pears snugly. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit inside the pot. Cut 4 slices from the lemon and put them, the strips of zest and all the other ingredients - except the pears - into the pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and add the pears, tops up - it's O.K. if they're not fully submerged. Cover with the paper circle and the pot's lid.
• Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes - the pears should still be slightly firm but easily pierced with the tip of a knife; transfer them to a bowl. Boil the syrup for 5 minutes, pour over the fruit and discard the spices. Serve slightly warm, at room temperature or chilled, with or without cream.

Steps:

• Remove the pear cores and slice pears lengthwise into eighths or twelfths.
• Set the pan over low to medium heat, bringing the wine to a simmer. Add pepper to taste, and then poach the pears for 5 to 10 minutes, until soft. Flip the pears halfway through so that both sides of the slices spend some time in the liquid.
• Remove the pears from the liquid. If desired, you can reduce the liquid down to a syrup to pour over the fruit. The pears can also be served with caramel sauce, vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Steps:

• Combine wine, sugar, orange juice, lemon peel, and clove in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to simmer over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add pear halves to saucepan. Cut out round of parchment paper same size as saucepan. Place parchment round atop pears, pushing edges of parchment into liquid to prevent edges from curling up. Reduce heat and barely simmer until pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 12 minutes.
• Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to bowl. Boil liquid in saucepan until slightly syrupy and reduced to 3/4 cup, about 14 minutes. Cool syrup to room temperature; stir in crème de cassis, if desired. Pour syrup over pears. Cover and chill at least 12 hours, turning pears occasionally.
• Thinly slice pear halves lengthwise almost to stem end, leaving stems attached. Spoon generous 1 tablespoon pear syrup onto each of 4 plates. Top each with 1 pear half, pressing gently to fan. Serve with cheese.

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients but pears in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and cook 5 minutes. Add pears, lower heat, and cook 20 to 30 minutes, until pears are tender. If necessary, turn pears very gently by rotating stems with your fingertips so they cook evenly. Remove pears to a bowl, bring poaching liquid to a rapid boil, and reduce by half, about 10 minutes.
• Pour syrup over pears and refrigerate, covered, at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. Serve.

Steps:

• Peel pears, leaving stem intact.
• Using a small melon baller, remove stems and seeds from bottoms of pears.
• In a saucepan that will accommodate pears upright, combine wine, water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, lemon zest and lemon juice.
• Bring to a boil.
• Add pears, cook over medium heat, maintaining a boil for 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat, allow pears to cool slowly.
• Baste pears occasionally with poaching liquid.
• When completely cooled, chill pears.
• Serve on individual dessert plates; spoon liquid over pears.

Steps:

• Juice the lemon and orange, reserving the juiced citrus halves. Put the juice, citrus halves, wine, water, honey, ginger, black peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, star anise and bay leaf in a wide saucepot. Gently place the pears into the liquid. Make a circle of parchment paper that is 1/2-inch larger than the pot and cover surface completely with the parchment paper (see Cook's Note*). Make sure the pears are fully submerged but not touching the bottom of the pot. Bring the poaching liquid and pears to a boil, then reduce the heat to just below a simmer.
• Cook the pears until fork tender. Test for doneness by inserting a sharp knife in the base; there should be little resistance when fully cooked. Gently transfer pears to a glass or ceramic bowl. Pour enough poaching liquid over pears just to cover. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight; the longer the pears soak, the darker they will become.
• Strain remaining poaching liquid and return to saucepan. Cook over high heat until a syrupy consistency is achieved or the syrup coats the back of a spoon. Chill until the pears are served.
• Use a parisienne scoop to remove each pear's core, hollowing out a 1-inch wide cavity that starts at the base and extends 3/4 of the way up the pear. Transfer the Creamy Pistachio Nut Filling to a piping bag without a tip. Gently fill the pear cavity until it slightly overflows. (The overflow will help to provide a sticky surface to stand the pear up on.) Place the pear, base side down, in a bowl and surround with 1-ounce of the syrup. Serve.
• In a medium-sized bowl, cream the mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla together. Stir in the pistachio nuts.
• Use immediately or refrigerate and return to room temperature before filling the pears.

Steps:

• Combine first 5 ingredients in heavy large pot. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Peel, halve and core pears. Add pears, rounded side down, to cooking liquid. Return cooking liquid to boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until pears are tender, basting occasionally with cooking liquid if necessary, about 25 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to bowl.
• Strain cooking liquid; discard solids. Return cooking liquid to pot. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, about 12 minutes. Pour syrup over pears. Chill until pears are cold, at least 3 hours or overnight. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)
• Scoop frozen yogurt onto plates. Place pears on plates. Spoon sauce over pears.

Steps:

• In a pot, combine all ingredients except the pears. Bring to the boil.
• While the liquid is boiling, peel the pears and cut them in half from top to bottom.
• Use a paring knife to core the pears.
• When liquid is boiling, add pears, return to boiling, then simmer until tender but not mushy. This will depend on the pears you choose and how ripe they are. Start with about 5-8 minutes, but be aware that it may take much longer (when I use bosc pears that aren't quite ripe yet it can take half an hour or more).
• Remove the pears, increase the heat, and reduce the liquid by half.
• Spoon the reduced liquid over the pears and top with homemade whipped cream (use recipe # 80157).

Steps:

• Before you start, cut out a circle of baking parchment using a large pan as a template. (This is called a cartouche, and will cover the pears later - it should be the same size as the pan to keep the pears submerged and the liquid from evaporating too quickly). Set aside. Tip the sugar, cinnamon sticks, vanilla seeds and pod, cardamom, wine and 200ml water into the pan. Peel strips of the lemon zest, avoiding the pith. Drop in the strips of zest, then warm over a low heat until the mix is steaming and the sugar has dissolved.
• Peel the pears, leaving the stalks intact. Slice in half lengthways through the core, then use a melon baller or small, sharp knife to remove the hard core and pips. Carefully place the pears in the steaming liquid, then turn up the heat to medium- low and bring to a simmer. Cover the surface with the circle of baking parchment and cook the pears for 20-30 mins, or until they can be pierced with the tip of a knife with little resistance.
• Meanwhile, sterilise two 1-litre jam jars. When the pears are cooked and still hot, transfer to the jars with any aromatics from the pan. Top up with the poaching liquid so the pears are covered. Seal and leave to cool. Will keep for up to six months in a cool place. Serve with ice cream or hot chocolate sauce, if you like.

Steps:

• Peel 4 Bosc pears, leaving stem intact. In a saucepan just large enough to hold pears on their sides, bring to a boil 4 cups water, 1 1/2 cups dry red wine, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns, 1 dried bay leaf, and peel of 1 lemon.
• Add pears, and cover with a round piece of wax paper. Reduce heat to low; simmer gently until pears are crisp-tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool in poaching liquid, then chill pears at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.