I’m in Love Poached Pears are perfect for Valentine’s Day, or anytime you want to create a little swoon-worthy magic in the kitchen. Nothing says “We’re a perfect pear,” better than this dessert!
These Poached Pears are cooked in red wine and spices โ think of it as a mulled wine drink for your pears! They’ll be tipsy in an oh-so-cute way. When you cut into the pear, the white center is revealed. They sure look (and taste) wonderful. By reducing the poaching liquid, you’ll create a wonderful rich sauce to serve with the Poached Pears. Easy-peasy.
Prep your Pears
Peel your pears using a U-shaped peeler like we have at Hipcooks. The articulated blade makes easy work of it! Be careful to leave the stem intact for maximum cuteness.
Once peeled, slice the pear across the bottom so that it can stand upright without falling over: Poached Pair Prostration Perfection.
How long to Poach?
You want the pears to poach long enough in the wine so that they really get to absorb the “come hither” deep red color. Also, you want them tender enough so that they’ll yield to the dessert spoon. But how long you poach really depends on the ripeness of the pear. At Hipcooks, we like to use fairly firm pears that we poach on simmer for a good 45 minutes.
Make-in Advance-able?
Yep! You can poach these babies up to a week in advance. Just cool and store them in their poaching liquid. Then, before serving, you can reduce the poaching liquid to syrup while you bring the pears up to room temperature.
Ingredients
1 bottle red wine, Chuck Shaw works a dream
2 cinnamon sticks
6 whole cloves
1-2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste
1 cup sugar
2 pears
Instructions
Add the wine, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, and sugar to a medium to large pot.
Get your pears ready by peeling them and trimming the bottom the pears can stand upright. Into the poaching liquid they go! (You may need to weigh them down with heatproof bowl or an overturned small pot lid.
Bring the liquid to a boil and then simmer. For how long? Until the pears are deliciously soft and easily pierced with a knife. It really depends on how ripe the pears are โ very hard Bartlett pears can take over an hour, where ripe pears should only take about 15 minutes. No hurry, this is a great aromatherapy!
To serve the pears in a saucy way, remove the pears from the liquid when cooked, and then continue reducing until only about 1 cup of the liquid remains. When this cools, it will be a wonderful, flavorful, beautiful syrup.
Say โYou’re plum perfectโ with a Hipcooks Gift Certificate!
If you think your Sweetpea would like a little kitchen confidence or inspiration, how about a Hipcooks Class for a date night, or a never-expiring Gift Certificate for a class of their choosing? It’s a win-win: Hipcooks students love to practice their new techniques on their best beloveds, so let the gift keep on giving!
