Delia Smith Poached Pears Food

FRESH PEACHES BAKED IN MARSALA WITH MASCARPONE CREAM

Steps:

• Begin by halving the peaches and removing their stones, then place the halves in a bowl, pour boiling water over them and, after 30 seconds, drain them and slip off their skins. Now place the peach halves in the shallow baking dish, mix the sugar and Marsala in a jug and pour it over the peaches. Add the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod to the dish, then place it on the centre shelf of the oven and bake without covering for 35-40 minutes. Then remove the peaches from the oven and drain off all the juices into a small saucepan. Mix the arrowroot with a little cold water and then add it to the saucepan and whisk over a gentle heat until slightly thickened. This will happen as soon as it reaches simmering point. Then pour it back over the peaches and leave to cool. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours to allow the flavour to develop fully. To make the mascarpone cream, simply beat all the ingredients together thoroughly and pile into a pretty serving bowl to hand round separately.

POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, bring 4 cups water, sugar, cinnamon stick, orange peel, and orange juice to a boil.
• Peel the pears, leaving the stem intact. Core the pears from the bottom using a corer or vegetable peeler.
• Add the pears to the simple syrup, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the pears are tender, but not mushy, about 15 minutes. Chill the pears in the syrup.
• Place the pear standing up on a dessert plate and drizzle with the chocolate sauce.
• Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl. Heat the heavy cream to hot, but not boiling in the microwave, about 15 to 20 seconds. Pour over the chocolate chips and let sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. Mix until smooth and serve.

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.

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 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.

POACHED PEAR GALETTES

Steps:

• First of all, make the pastry. Remove a pack of butter from the fridge, weigh out 4oz (110 g) then wrap it in a piece of foil and return it to the freezer or freezing compartment of the fridge for 30-45 minutes. Then, when you are ready to make the pastry, sift the flour and pinch of salt into a large, roomy bowl. Take the butter out of the freezer, fold back the foil and hold it in the foil, which will protect it from your warm hands. Then, using the coarse side of a greater placed in the bowl over the flour, grate the butter, dipping the edge of the butter into the flour several ties to make it easier to grate. What you will end up with is a large pile of grated butter sitting in the middle of the flour. Now take the palette knife and start to distribute the gratings into the flour - don't use your hands yet, just keep trying to coat all the pieces of fat with flour. Then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cold water all over, continue to use the palette knife to bring the whole thing together, and finsih off, using your hands. If you need more moisture, that's fine - just remember that the dough should come together in such a way that it leaves the bowl fairly clean, with no bits of loose butter or flour anywhere. Now pop it into a polythene bag and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge. Meanwhile, find a lidded saucepan that will fit the pears comfortably, laying them in the pan on their sides. Now mix the wine with the sugar and pour this over the pears, then add the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod. Put the lid on the pan and gently simmer the pears for 45 minutes, until tender when tested with a skewer. Turn them over halfway through the cooking time so the other half sits in the wine and they colour evenly. Towards the end of the cooking time, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7, 425°F (220°C). Then roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick and cut it into six 4 inch (10 cm) circles, then arrange them on the baking sheets. Now lift the pears from the liquid and halve them by first making a slit in the stalk as you press it on to a flat surface. Then stand each pear upright and cut through the split stalk, halve the pears and remove the cores. Now you need to slice each half into a fan, so take a sharp knife and, starting from the top of the stalk end, about ½ inch (1 cm) in, slice the pear downwards and at a slight angle so you end up with the slices of pear fanning out but still attached to the stalk. Now place each half pear on to a pastry base and fan it out, then place the baking sheets in the oven for 10-12 minutes, one on the top shelf, the other on the next one down, swapping them over halfway through the cooking time. Meanwhile, you need to reduce the poaching liquid, so first remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod, then place the saucepan over a high heat and let it bubble for about 5 minutes. Then, in a cup, mix the arrowroot with a little cold water until you have a smooth paste, then add this to the saucepan, whisking with a balloon whisk all the time. This will thicken the sauce slightly, then remove it from the heat and leave it to cool. When the tarts are ready, remove them from the oven. Serve hot or cold but, just before serving, pour a little of the syrup over each tart to give them a pretty glaze. You can also watch how to make Delia's Flaky Pastry in our Cookery School Video on this page.

POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Place the water, sherry, sugar, cinnamon and the cloves in a large saucepan over a low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
• Add the peeled pears and simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until pears are cooked through.
• Allow pears to cool in the poaching liquid.
• Serve with cream.

GINGER-SPICED PEARS

Steps:

• Put the sugar, vinegar, orange zest and juice, ginger, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large pan. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar, then boil for 5 mins.
• Meanwhile, peel, core and halve or quarter the pears, depending on size. Add the pears to the pan and poach gently for 10-15 mins until they are just tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and pack into warm sterilised Kilner jars with rubber seals (see tip below).
• Boil the vinegar mixture hard to reduce by a third, then pour over the pears, including the spices. The pears need to be completely covered with the liquid. Fit the rubber seal and clamp the jar tightly closed. Reserve any leftover syrup for topping up the jars later, as the pears will absorb the syrup over time. Store for up to 2 months.

POACHED PEARS WITH CHOCOLATE-PEAR SAUCE

Steps:

• Stir pear nectar, white wine and sugar in a heavy large saucepan over med.high heat until sugar dissolves and syrup comes to a boil.
• Add pears to syrup in saucepan.Cover pan, reduce heat to med.- low, and simmer until pears are tender, about 8 minutes.
• Using slotted spoon transfer pears to plate.
• Increase heat to med.- 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 on each plate. Top with warm chocolate sauce. Or, cover pears and chocolate sauce separately and refrigerate up to 2 days; then serve pears cold with sauce, rewarming sauce, if desired.