Try this recipe for poached pears, drenched in a cinnamon-spiced red wine. This low-fat dessert is perfect for dinner party entertaining.
Ingredients
- 1 vanilla pod
- 1 bottle red wine
- 225g caster sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick, halved
- fresh thyme sprig, plus sprigs to seve
- 6 pears, peeled, but kept whole with stalk intact
Method
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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 pod into three long thin strips, add to pan, then lower in the pears.
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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.
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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.