Red Wine Poached Pears

on | 2 min read

Ingredients

  • 1 Vanilla Pod
  • 1 bottle of red wine
  • 225g castor sugar
  • 1 cinnamon stick, halved
  • Fresh thyme sprig
  • 6 pears, peeled but keep whole with the stalk intact

Method

  • Halve the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the black seeds into a large saucepan with the wine, sugar, cinnamon and thyme. Cut each piece of vanilla pod into three long thin strips, add to the pan, and then lower in the pears.
  • Poach the pears in the saucepan, covered for 20 - 30 minutes, making sure they are covered in the wine. Cooking time will vary depending on the ripeness of the pears. They should be tender all the way through when pierced with a cocktail stick. These can be made two days ahead and chilled until needed.
  • Remove the pears from the pan, boil the liquid to reduce by half so that it's syrupy.
  • Serve each pear with the cooled syrup, a strip of vanilla, Brandy snap cylinder, berry coulis and a sprig of thyme.

Makes 6
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes