sunday supper: battle wine, pt. 2

It is a strange day when I opt against making the apple dumplings that I had planned for last night. For some reason, I was craving something a little lighter and the idea of poached pears kept popping up in my head. As luck would have it, I had the leftover wine, plus 3 bosc pears sitting in the fruit drawer. I've never poached pears before, but having eaten my fair share I figured it couldn't be that complicated. I mean, just take some pears,



and drop them in some wine! In the spirit of the cooler weather, I spiced the wine with aromatics, including a cinnamon stick, a couple of allspice berries, and a couple cloves. It made the whole house smell very festive and got both J-Cat and Opaw-Cat sniffing and searching for the source. I combined about equal amounts of water and wine, and added about 1/3 cup of sugar.



After poaching for about 15 minutes, I removed the pears with a slotted spoon and set them aside to cool slightly, then cranked up the heat on the wine to reduce it down to a thin syrup.



By the time we were done eating our main course, the syrup had thickened nicely. I spike it with a pat of butter, then poured the glistening wine reduction over the pears for a sweet and intensely flavored kick. This was awesome, and afterwards I was bummed that we only had three pears to share between us.



Recipe after the jump:

RED WINE POACHED PEARS

Ingredients
3 bosc pears or other relatively firm pears
1 1/2 cups red wine
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1 cinnamon stick
3 allspice berries
3 cloves
1 pat unsalted butter

Preparation
In a saucepan, combine the wine, water, sugar, vanilla bean, and spices and bring to a light boil. Peel, core, and halve the pears lengthwise. You can also keep the pears whole if you have an apple corer. In this case, slight the bottom of the pear so that it will stand upright for nice presentation. Drop the pears into the simmering wine and poach for 15 minutes, or until a knife is easily inserted. Remove the pears from the poaching liquid with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Turn the heat on the wine to high and reduce down until to a thin syrup. Add a pat of butter to the syrup, stir well, then drizzle over the pears.