Poached Pears in White Wine
A couple of years ago I had poached pears with ice cream, and it was so good! Since we had pears and a little wine left in the fridge, I thought I'd try it out. It came out pretty good- the only hard part was not overcooking the pears. I like them a little crunchy, so you can cook them longer if you want them soft. Also, I didn't have ice creams, so I had to do without, but the white wine sauce on top made up for it. Another nice thing with this recipe is that it makes the house smell nice!
Ingredients
2 cups white wine1/2 cup water 1/2 cup sugar 1 cinnamon stick 1 whole clove 1/4 tsp ground allspice 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 star anise 1 green cardamom pod, split open 2 pears (I used Bosc) 8 walnut halves (optional)
Directions
1. Peel, core, and cut the pears into quarters.2. In a small saucepan, mix everything except the pears and walnuts. Heat on med-high until the sugar dissolves, then turn down the heat to med so that it's simmering.3. Add the pears and simmer until pears are barely done (~15 min, if you insert a knife it should go in easily). Remove the pears from the pan.4. Add the walnuts and continue to simmer the wine mixture for another 20-30 mins until only half remains. Keep in mind that the more you burn off, the sweeter the wine sauce will be.5. Serving ideas: Place a pear quarter in a small bowl with 2 walnuts and drizzle the warm wine sauce on top. You can also serve it at room temperature with vanilla ice cream. The only way I didn't enjoy it too much is when it's cold (as in straight from the fridge)- other than that, have fun with it!