Friday, November 16, 2007

Spice Infused Poached Pears


For dessert tonight, I decided to treat Hans and I to something really exquisite, yet very easy- I poached two peeled Gieser Wildeman pears for about one and a half hours in 200 ml red wine, 50 ml crème de cassis, 300 ml water, 3 bruised cardamom pods, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, one star anise and 2 teaspoons brown sugar. The smell of the pears cooking was extremely aromatic and thoroughly promising. I couldn't stop lifting the lid so that I could get an even better whiff of everything slowly simmering away in that little pan.

After the pears were cooked, I removed them to a plate and reduced the syrup for about 35 minutes. They were then served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a nice drizzle of warm syrup. It was a delicious and very seasonal dessert.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Deeeeelicious. Such an autumn recipe! :)

Sylvia said...

I love ,love poached pears.I normally use red wine,but I i never add creme de cassis. This is a great and flavored idea

Kelly-Jane said...

Crème de cassis would be a wonderful addition to poached pair liquid, and I can guess the smell would be fantastic =)

Mara said...

I've never poached pears, but these look really intriguing to try!