Wine Poached Pears

5 from 1 vote

Poached Pears is a great way to use fruit when it’s either off-season and less than perfect, or just a bit under ripe. The fruit is cooked in a flavorful liquid – usually wine – and steeped with flavourings for a simple, elegant dessert.

Prep Time5

Cook Time45

Total Time50

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings: People

Calories: 589kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Ingredients

4 Large, firm pears
3 cups Fruity Red Wine of Choice
¾ – 1 cup Granulated Sugar
Flavoring items of choice *

Instructions

Peel the pears, leaving the stems on – it’s prettier that way.
In a medium saucepan, combine your wine with sugar, bring to a boil. Cook, stirring until all sugar is dissolved.
Turn the heat down to low, add flavoring items of choice. At this point, it’s a good idea to taste the syrup to make sure that the liquid is sweet enough for your taste.
Add the pears to the pot. If they float, laying a small, heat proof dish on top to weigh them down works well.
Cover the pot and allow the fruit to cook through to desired softness – this may happen in 10 minutes, it may take 40-60 minutes. Just poke it every once in awhile to see how it’s doing.
Once pears cooked through, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cool, move to fridge to chill for at least an hour.
When ready to serve, remove pears from poaching liquid.
To make a sauce to serve with the pears, return the poaching liquid to the stove top, simmer until reduced in volume and thickened.

Notes

* Flavoring items of choice: Vanilla beans (cut in half, lengthwise), whole cloves, zest/juice of citrus fruits, tea bags, cinnamon sticks, mint leaves, rosemary… whatever you feel like using! I recommend not using too many different flavors – I like to let the flavor of the fruit shine through. For this recipe, we used one vanilla bean, and the peels of two clementine oranges.

* Liquid variations: Wine – red, white, rose, champagne, mead – any type that you like drinking. Favorite spirits, such as rum, whisky, and brandy can also be used. Fruit juice or water can be added for extra flavor, or to cut too-strong flavors.

Nutrition