Poached Pears in Red Wine and Cinnamon are delicious, beautiful and easy to prepare! What more could you want of a recipe? Okay, yes, you do have to peel and core the pears; but the results are worth it. If you have ripe pears, the coring is easier and the poaching takes less time. The good news is that if you are using rock hard pears, you can still be successful with this recipe. It just takes a little more care in coring and probably 20 minutes more to poach the pears; but the results are mouth watering.
I love recipes that can be used in a variety of ways. Eat these pears on their own or serve them with gelato or ice cream drizzled with some reduced cooking liquid over them. Want to make something even more extra special? Bake a tart crust and arrange these Poached Pears in Red Wine and Cinnamon in the crust. Glaze them with reduced cooking liquid or melted jam and top with toasted sliced almonds.
For a recipe for Roasted Pears rather than poached pears, click on the link : Glazed Roasted Pears
Prep time: 15 minutes
Poached Pears in Red Wine and Cinnamon
By Published: November 1, 2015
Yield:
- 16 pear halves
Ingredients
- 8 large firm Anjou/Comice pears
- 1 medium lemon
- 1 bottle dry red wine
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 sticks Cinnamon
Equipment
- 1 large mixing bowl
- 1 Y vegetable peeler
- 1 paring knife
- 1 3 quart enamel dutch oven
- 1 slotted spoon
- 1 toothpick/cake tester
Directions
- Squeeze lemon into a large bowl of water. Set aside.
- I find that when the pears are firm, it is easier to peel them with a Y vegetable peeler than with a knife. After peeling each pear, take a paring knife and cut them in half from the stem down. Using the same knife, carefully but firmly cut around the shape of the core in each half and remove it. Place the cored halves into the lemon water. Repeat until all the pears are done.
- Pour wine into Dutch oven. Add sugar and stir til well mixed. Add cinnamon sticks. Bring to a low boil. Remove pears from water with a slotted spoon and carefully place them in wine mixture. Simmer pears until they can be easily pierced with a tooth pick. As they poach, gently take the bottom halves and bring them to the top so that all the pears have a chance to be infused with the wine. Ripe pears will be done in about 15 minutes; while harder pears will take anywhere from 30-40 minutes. Turn off the burner when pears are done. Let them sit in the wine syrup for at least 30 minutes or even overnight. Remove pears from syrup and set aside. Bring cooking liquid to a boil and reduce it until it becomes a glaze-somewhat thick but still pourable.
- To serve: Depending on the size of the pears, place one or two halves in each serving dish. Drizzle the glaze over the top and add toasted nuts if desired. Enjoy!
For an extra special treat, place pears around a scoop of vanilla gelato or ice cream!
