Poached Pears in Red Wine
Perfectly poached pears, served in the finest of red wine, Chef John Anthony has served yet another French delight to our residents at Birchwood House. Inspired by BBC Good Foods, you can follow the recipe below to recreate this culinary delight yourself.
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 bottle red wine
- 225g caster sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick, halved
- Fresh thyme sprig, plus sprigs to serve
- 6 pears, peeled but kept whole with stalk intact
Let’s get these pears poached!
- 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 the pod into three long thin strips, add to the 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
Did you give this recipe a go? Why not let us know how you got on by leaving us a comment on our Facebook page.
