Pears are funny things. They make us wait for that moment of perfect ripeness and when it occurs we have to eat them immediately. I had two conference pears in my fruit bowl. Every time I went into the kitchen I could see their skinny, stalked tops just poking out over the bowl looking at me, testing my patience. These pears seemed to be staying forever firm; even after four days there wasn’t a whisper of softness.
Pears poached in red wine is a classic but not something that I’ve ever tried. If anything was going to soften these pears it was being simmered in alcohol. Not just any wine mind but Elderberry wine. Poaching pears is incredibly simple, takes around half an hour and is brilliantly tasty. I also quite like how the pears look afterwards; slightly over to one side almost as if they are drunk.
You will need:
2 firm pears
1 bottle Elderberry wine
100g sugar
Start by putting the wine and sugar into a pan and bring it to a simmer. While you wait for the wine to warm peel the pears and cut the bottom off so that they will stand up when cooked. When the wine is simmering add the pears and leave for 20-30 minutes or until soft when tested with a skewer.
Remove the pears when they’re soft and then turn the heat up on the wine. Boil the wine until it has reduced to a thin syrup. Depending on the ferocity of your flame and how much evaporated while the pears were cooking this can take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. Bear with it though and don’t give in to impatience; pears in wine soup would I’m sure be delicious but it’s not quite what you’re after. Serve the pears with their syrup.
This is a pretty effortless pudding; you really just ignore the pears and they change from being hard and pale to soft and blushing. The colour is wonderful; as you dig your spoon into the pear the inside is almost glowing surrounded by an autumnal border. If you use normal red wine you may want to add a little extra sugar, I didn’t add very much as the Elderberry wine was already fairly sweet. The pears flavoured the syrup and the wine flavoured the pears; an easy and decadently delicious dessert.
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21 comments:
Those pears look wonderful - a whole bottle of wine! Such a great dish. Have a great week!
Do you remember the Eddie Izzard sketch with the pears? Hard; Hard; Hard; READY! He reckoned they were perfect for a period of only 10 minutes. Sounds about right.
I swoon over every recipe you create! Just lovely!
I love how pretty the poached pear looks... and I am sure it is delicious in the elderberry wine.
Yuuum. Way to make pears naughty! :P
They look perfect. It's strange that we eat apples that are crunchy but not pears. They need to be in that "10 minute window"
Colours are amazing.
This is my fav, in fact one of the few desserts I enjoy. It so tempting and I can't wait to take in.
Gorgeous looking pears!! I love poaching pears in wine and this looks very tempting :)
these look awesome! i see if i can get elberberry wine here, i'm so tempted to know how they taste, i only tasted poached pears in vanilla cinnamon syrup:)
Glorious colours and really good idea to use elderberry wine instead of red wine. It must be so fragrant.
I bet these are fragrant and delicious my friend :D
Cheers
CCU
These must make a wonderful dessert. Very nice coloured pears which I must bookmark. I really want to try them!
Oh they look perfect. I've never poached a pear, looks like I might just be missing out!
oh my gosh, i am in love with this - now i just need to track down some elderberry wine!
I love Lyme bay! Whenever I was in weymouth, I would stock up! This is a truly fantastic recipe. Yum.
Their ruby color makes me so happy and what a festive dish for Autumn =)
yum i love poached pears, they're so wonderfully sweet and soft and this looks especially gorgeous with that deep luscious red.
I also let my pears ripe. I do not like crunchy pears, my pears have to be soft and jucy and my bananas almost black... I love the colour of these poached pears; it's a simple dessert but full of flavours. The wine works very well with pears.
These look wonderful! I usually poach pears in a white wine because moscato is a sweet wine that happens to be white, but the beautiful contrast with red makes me very happy to find a new red wine. I don't know if I can find elderberry but I can use your hint of adding extra sugar. Lovely
this looks wonderful I really must try poaching pears
poached pears are so lovely! the way they soak up that color and flavor is no small piece of magic. :)
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