Poached pears in wine or Poire à la Beaujolais is a classic French dessert.
A fancy, yummy & a very gorgeous dessert recipe which is so easy to prepare. Of course without use of any refined sugar.
The well-known proverb “Necessity is the mother of Invention” perfectly fits here.
The story goes: In Burgundy, a famous wine drinking region in France, when the pears used to be harvested, the unripe ones used to be set aside. And instead of throwing the fruit, this poaching technique was used to create this lovely and fancy dessert.
Isn’t it a very humble and straightforward cooking method to save harvested fruit instead of just throwing away? And so beautifully this technique amps the flavours of the fruit from 0 to 100 instantly.
The translucent, red-tinted pears are a sheer joy. Every bite is oozing with all the flavours of the different spices, the reduced wine and the vanilla. You can serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream on the side.
For this recipe you will need a good red wine (fruity flavoured), cloves, cardamom, a piece of cinnamon stick, few drops of vanilla essence, maple syrup and some orange zest.
I have used the Fratelli Classic Shiraz Wine
WINE POACHED PEARS
Ingredients :
• 2 cups Red Wine (look for a fruity flavoured)
• 2 ripe but firm pears
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 whole cardamom
• 5 cloves
• Vanilla essence a few drops
• Orange zest or orange peel
Method :
• First keep the wine to heat in a deep vessel alongwith all the spices, the maple syrup, orange zest and the vanilla.
• Then peel the pears and dunk them in the wine. Continue to boil for 20 to 30 minutes if the pears are smaller in size. It may take a bit longer for bigger pears.
• After 30 minutes insert a knife to check if pears are tender. If there is no resistance it means the pears are ready.
• Keep them overnight in the same pan immersed in the wine to serve next day. This way the flavours get bolder and seep into the fruit.
• Next day remove the pears onto a serving plate and bring the wine to boil and reduce it till it becomes thick but still a pouring consistency. This should take 15 to 20 minutes.
• Serve the poached pears with whipped cream or ice-cream (I have served with whipped cream garnished with pomegranate seeds)
• Make sure you drizzle the reduced wine onto the pears before serving.
Now please find your favourite people who deserve this fancy dessert and share with them. It is fantastic way of impressing those beautiful people in your lives.
Go ahead make them feel special. Handy Tips: For this recipe you need to use pears which are firm and not overripe. While cooking you need to rotate them in the pan for the wine to coat it evenly. Hence, if the pears are too ripe the heat will disintegrate the fruit while cooking. And yes, don’t throw away the reduced wine syrup from the pan, use it over icecreams / cakes / puddings etc.
