Poires Pochées au Vin Rouge (Pears Poached in Red Wine)

Ingredients

For 4 portions

• 🍐 4 medium pear
• 🍷 750ml wine, table, red
• 🍚 120g sugar
• 🍊 1 medium orange
• 🌿 1 stick cinnamon
• 🌿 2 stars star anise
• 🌿 1 pod vanilla pod
• 🍇 100g blackberries

Method

1. For a vegan dessert, choose a wine labelled vegan – some wines are clarified with egg white or gelatine.
2. Choose firm, just-ripe pears (Conference or Bosc work well). Peel them, keeping the stalks on, and cut a thin slice off the base so they stand up.
3. Put the wine, sugar, strips of orange zest and the juice of the orange, the cinnamon stick, star anise and split vanilla pod in a pan just big enough to hold the pears snugly. Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
4. Lower in the pears, lying on their sides. Cover with a circle of baking paper to keep them submerged and simmer very gently for 20–30 minutes, turning every 10 minutes, until a knife slides easily into the thickest part.
5. Lift the pears out onto a plate. Boil the wine hard for 10–15 minutes until reduced by about two-thirds to a glossy syrup that coats a spoon.
6. For the deepest colour, return the pears to the syrup and leave to cool together for an hour (or overnight in the fridge).
7. Serve each pear standing up, warm or cold, with a spoonful of the syrup and a few blackberries.