Poached Pears
There’s something so elegant about the look of poached pears, they hold their shape beautifully. They make a simple dessert with so much flavour, they are easy to prepare, and when cooked they are luscious, juicy and have a wonderful caramel flavour. You can dress them up with a spoon full of creme fraiche or crème anglaise!
Ingredients
- 6 pears, firm/medium peeled (keep the stalk intact with the pear)
- 60 g coconut sugar
- 60 g honey, agave or maple syrup
- 3 pints of boiling water
- 1-2 tsp. vanilla bean paste or 1 whole vanilla pod (de-seeded)
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
serving suggestion
- crème fraiche, crème anglaise, ice cream or yogurt
Instructions
- Carefully peel the skin from the pears (firm pears are ok to use), keeping the stalk intact. Then place in a large saucepan and cover with 3 pints of boiling water. Add the lemon juice, vanilla, coconut sugar and honey. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer on a low light for two hours.
- Remove the pears from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and leave in a large dish to cool.
- Place the boiling pear water back on the stove and keep on the highest light for 20 minutes (don’t be afraid to keep it boiling, but do keep an eye on it) to reduce the water to a syrupy consistency. Place the pears on a serving platter, then pour half of the reduce caramel sauce over the pears. If you have any juice on the plate from when the pears were cooling add that back to the saucepan. Again, place the saucepan back on the highest heat and reduce for a further 5minutes, (be careful not to take this stage too far) until the consistency will go more like a caramel drizzle. You can then drizzle this over the pears to intensify the flavour of the sauce.
- Serve with crème fraiche, crème anglaise, ice cream or yogurt
- Enjoy!
- If you make this recipe, I’d LOVE to see how you get on so please either send me a photo to lisa@myrelationshipwithfood.com or post a picture to Instagram using the #myrelationshipwithfood and tag@myrelationshipwithfood
Notes
LISA’S TIP – If you’re looking to make a garnish with a crisp texture you could make almond brittle – To make the brittle line a tray with parchment paper, lightly oil with groundnut oil. In a saucepan add 150g caster sugar, heat on a medium light until the sugar melts – it will start heat from the outside edge and gradually get hotter in the middle (do not stir, but you can swirl the pan to stop the edges burning, if you have sugar crystals forming on the side of the pan brush with water to remove them with a pastry brush).
After 10-20 minutes the sugar should all be melted and starting to become caramel in colour, but don’t overcook the sugar as you don’t want it to burn. Remove from the heat, tip in 75g toasted flaked almonds and stir well to coat them in the sugary caramel.
Return to the heat and stir to coat the nuts evenly, when the mixture starts to bubble remove from the heat and pour onto the greaseproof paper.
Spread as evenly as possible, remembering that as it cools it will harden, once it’s hardened you can break the brittle and scatter over the crème fraiche, ice cream or yogurt.
