Poached Pears

Ingredients:

• One 750-ml bottle of Moscato wine or other sweet dessert wine. Looking for locally made wine? Click here for a list of MA wineries
•2 cups simple syrup*
•1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
•2 Tablespoons honey (we love and highly recommend Beverly Bees or Sherman & Cherie’s Beezy Bees)
•1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
•6 pears, peeled
•1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or ½ tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a saucepan large enough to hold all of the pears.  Combine wine, cinnamon stick, honey and ginger.  Add the vanilla bean or extract.  Bring mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. 

  2. Add the pears and simmer 15-20 minutes until the pears are tender.  Remove the pears from the liquid and allow to cool.

  3. Continue to simmer the liquid until it thickens and is reduced by half, about 15-20 minutes  Cool to room temperature.  Remove the cinnamon stick and the vanilla bean and discard.

To serve:

Place each pear in a small  plate and scoop some vanilla ice cream, or a dollop of whipped cream.  Drizzle with the honey, ginger, cinnamon syrup.

Once you’ve plated, the dish is ready to serve!

* To make Simple syrup combine equal parts sugar and water (you’ll need 2 cups of each for this recipe). Combine in a saucepan and medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.  Remove from the pan the heat and allow syrup to cool.

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