Poached Pears Recipe Jacque Pepin Recipes

POACHED PEARS IN HONEY, GINGER AND CINNAMON SYRUP

Steps:

• In a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears, combine the wine, Simple Syrup, cinnamon stick halves, honey, and ginger. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the bean and seeds to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. Add the pears and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, until the pears are tender. Remove the pears from the liquid and allow to cool.
• Continue to simmer the liquid until it thickens and is reduced by half, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Remove the cinnamon stick halves and the vanilla bean and discard.
• Place each pear on a small serving plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with the honey, ginger and cinnamon syrup. Serve immediately.
• In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the syrup to cool.

JACQUES PEPIN'S BRAISED PEARS IN CARAMEL SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Peel pears and cut in half lengthwise. Remove cores. Place pear halves flat side down in single layer in 1 or 2 large baking or gratin dishes. Sprinkle sugar over pears and dot with butter.
• Place in oven and bake 35 minutes. By this time sugar should have caramelized and pears should be tender when pierced with point of knife. If pears are not tender continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes. Pour cream over pears and return to oven. Bake 10 to 15 minutes more, basting every 5 minutes with cream.
• Cream should have reduced and thickened and turned nice ivory color. If sauce seems to be separating, add a tablespoon or two of hot water.
• Remove pears from oven, allow to cool slightly. Serve directly from baking dish.

POACHED PEARS IN SPICED RED WINE

Steps:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

EASY POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine lemon zest, cinnamon stick, allspice, ground pepper, apple cider, and water.
• Add pears. Cover with waxed paper to prevent discoloring. Bring to a simmer. Cook, turning pears occasionally, until easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Remove pears from liquid; transfer to large bowl.
• Raise heat to high; boil cider mixture until reduced to a syrup, about 15 minutes. Discard cinnamon. Pour syrup over pears; refrigerate. To serve, slice off a sliver from the bottom of each pear (so it stands upright). Serve pears with lemon sorbet, if desired.

POACHED PEARS WITH CHOCOLATE-PEAR SAUCE

Steps:

• Stir pear nectar, white wine and sugar in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves and syrup comes to boil. Add pears to syrup in saucepan. Cover pan, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until pears are tender, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to plate. Increase heat to medium-high and boil poaching liquid until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 8 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Add chocolate; whisk until chocolate melts and sauce is smooth.
• Place 1 warm pear half, cut side up, on each plate. Top with vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate sauce. Or cover pears and chocolate sauce separately and refrigerate up to 2 days; then serve pears cold with ice cream and sauce, rewarming sauce, if desired.