The following recipe is one of the shortest ones in this blog, yet I’m sure you’ll find it is also one that you will make frequently, as it is so easy to prepare and so tasty.
Thanks to the observant eye of one of the readers of this blog, I realized that despite the fact its photo is on the header of the blog, I haven’t posted the recipe for it so far. So, here it is, at long last…
Originally published in my cookbook, which is dedicated to quick and tasty recipes, this dish is one of my all time go-to recipe when I need a quick and impressive looking dessert.
While poached pears recipes are not scarce, when I came up with this recipe, I wanted to avoid the common combination of wine/cinnamon stick, as wonderful as it is. As I love the wonderful aroma of Star Anise, I’ve decided to use it instead. The next thing was to replace white sugar with dark brown sugar, and the result is in front of you.
With very few ingredients and a short preparation and cooking time, you end up with a beautiful, aromatic and tasty dessert.
The pears can be served as is, or with vanilla ice cream, yogurt or whipped cream. They are also great on top of a sponge cake, or Lady Finger cookies.
At the Jewish New Year’s dinner, which is celebrated this evening, one of the culinary traditions is to dip a slice of apple in honey, and eat it as a symbol for a sweet New Year. Many other sweet dishes are added as well to the dinner, and even the salt on the table is replaced with sugar – all in order to emphasize this hope for a sweet New Year. This dish is just the perfect dessert for this dinner – and on any other time of the year.
Happy and Sweet New Year to all!
Makes: 4-6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 12-20 minutes, depending on type of pears
Ingredients:
4-6 medium size pears, ripe but firm
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups fruity white wine
2-3 Star Anise
Pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Peel the pears, cut in half and core with a melon-baller.
2. In a wide pot, mix and add all rest of ingredients. Add the pears, in one layer, cut side down.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to medium-high.
4. Cook for 12-20 minutes, depending on the size of the pears and how firm they are, shaking the pot gently occasionally, until the pears change their color, turn translucent and the sauce reduced a bit.
5. Serve warm or cold, with the syrup and any other additions mentioned above.
I’m not much of a food historian, but this recipe reminds me many medieval desserts I’ve read about. I’m in no position to cook anything at the moment, but I’d certainly like to try this recipe one day when I have the time (although I might replace the wine with mead. I’ve got truckloads of mead bottles which I don’t know what to do with…).
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I totally agree and I definitely got inspired by such recipes!
I think Mead would be wonderful here, I would just suggest to adjust the amount of sugar, depending how sweet your Mead is.
For an even more authentic version, you could also use honey instead of sugar. 🙂
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I would love that!
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Thank you Aletta! 🙂
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The pears I get from a friend are very sweet. It is hard to imagine infusing six of them with additional sweetness from an entire cup of brown sugar. Are these in the “candy sweet” category?
Virtual hugs,
Judie
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It’s definitely not a candy recipe. 1 cup of sugar is less than in an average cake, and you don’t need to consume all the syrup.
However, if your pears are so sweet, you can use far less sugar, it’s up to you.
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It looks so amazing and the recipe is pretty straight forward. Poached fruit desserts aren’t very common in Pakistan. I am gonna try it In Sha Allah without the wine of course 🙂
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Thank you Heenie! 🙂 I’m glad to hear you want to try the recipe. Natural white grape juice, or clear apple juice can be a very good substitute for the wine. I hope you’ll enjoy the results. I’ll be happy to hear your comments.
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WOW! Amazing😊😊😊
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Thank you Lina! 🙂
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Looks Delicious 🙂 🙂
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I love that you’ve used white wine; not the usual red. It looks amazing ☺
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Thank you Frances! 🙂
I did try to make the dish a bit different, and loved the results so much I keep making it again and again. 🙂
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I just love this, looks so delicious, all of the yummy flavors makes me think of Fall! Beautiful recipe and pictures to go along with it!
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Thank you Lyn, for your lovely comment.
You are so right, the colors fit fall so perfectly… 🙂
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yes and sound so delicious!
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Oh wow those are just gorgeous Ronit!!
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Thank you Suzanne! 🙂
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You have a cookbook???
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I do, though it’s in Hebrew, so not very useful to most… 🙂
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Absolutely beautiful! My mouth is actually watering. 🙂
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Thank you Annie. So nice to hear! 🙂
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Ronit, my hubby says “wow”. He is ready to eat the screen…will have to make it for him 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you Marisa for the lovely update! 🙂
I hope you’ll both enjoy the results. I’ll be happy to hear your comments. 🙂
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Looks selicious
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Thank you Shirley! 🙂
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I love your version using white wine and a favorite, aromatic star anise 🙂
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Thank you Judi! 🙂 Though other versions are also lovely, this combination is my favorite.
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I really like this. I often see pears poached in red wine but i avoid red wine. I’m happy to see your alternative. I’ll hunt down some star anise.
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Thank you Lindy! 🙂 I like the red wine version as well, but find them heavier. I hope you’ll enjoy the results when making this version. I’ll be happy to hear your comments. 🙂
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I’ve made something like this with ginger and honey and it’s lovely! This sounds delicious as well, I definitely don’t have enough star anise in my diet 🙂
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Thank you Mary for commenting. 🙂
I use Star Anise a lot, it has such a special wonderful aroma. Ginger and honey sound amazing as well. I’ll definitely give it a try soon.
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Yum Ronit!!! I started a new web site for Food Bloggers and would loveeeeee for you to join us. Please check out https://wegrazetogether.wordpress.com or thread through my main web https://clwiser.wordpress.com to view. It is a direct link to Food Bloggers. Easy, concept and I’d love for you to join us. Best regards, Cheryl.
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Thank you Cheryl! 🙂
Please feel free to add a link to my blog: https://ronitpenso.wordpress.com/
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Delighted to Chef Ronit! Glad to have you with us. Cheryl PS I’ll add you right now my dear friend.
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Thank you! 🙂
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My pleasure!
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Done, thank you for participating Chef.
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The pears looks wonderful. Some of my favorite recipes are simple ones.
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Thank you Sheryl. Indeed sometimes “less is more”. 🙂
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Oh my, simply beautiful!
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Thank you Lana! 🙂
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Oh they look beautiful! It’s a perfect time to make them:)
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Thank you Olga! It is indeed the perfect time for making these. 🙂
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My Goodness Ronit you know what’s good in life !! I’m reading this and already trying to think when and how much of it I’m going to make 😀 !!
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Thank you Marta! It is really a simple yet sophisticated dessert. I know it’s a contradiction, but it works! 🙂
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Oh wow! These are beautiful!
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Thank you Melisa. So nice to hear. 🙂
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sounds absolutely delicious! I’ve been thinking about making some kind of cake with poached pears so I might have to give this recipe a try!
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Thank you Tux. I’m glad you liked the idea. It is simple and sophisticated at the same time, and very easy to prepare. I would love to see the cake when it’s done! 🙂
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I’ll definitely let you know if I make it!
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Another wonderful dessert! Which pear do you recommend? I would like to prepare this. I read a time ago you use a specific variety when poaching pears.
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Thank you Randy. I’m glad you liked the recipe.
Over the years I’ve prepared this dish with many pears varieties, and all worked well, as long as they were firm.
Here I’ve used the Anjou type, but traditionally Bosc pears are considered the best for poaching. However, I use them only if I can find ones that are not too big.
I hope you’ll enjoy the results. I’ll be happy to hear your comments. 🙂
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