Fresh Pear And Berry Compote In Red Wine Food

FRESH PEAR AND BERRY COMPOTE IN RED WINE

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, combine strawberries, raspberries, and pears.
• In a medium saucepan, heat sugar and 1 cup water over medium-high heat until sugar has completely dissolved. Add geranium leaves, and remove from heat. Cover, and let steep 10 minutes.
• Stir wine into mixture in pan, and pour over fruit. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 1 1/2 hours. Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

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.

PEAR COMPOTE

Steps:

• Bring 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1/2 split vanilla bean, 1 star anise pod and a pinch each of salt and pepper to a simmer; cook until reduced by half, 4 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 chopped peeled pears and 3 tablespoons water; simmer 8 more minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon chopped thyme, increase the heat and simmer until syrupy, 1 to 4 minutes. Let cool.

PEARS IN RED WINE WITH FRUIT COMPOTE

Steps:

• Cut the kiwi fruit into thin slices. Cut the slices into quarters.
• Pick over the berries to remove any foreign particles. Rinse the berries and drain.
• Combine the water and 1/4 cup of sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the strawberries and stir. Cook about 30 seconds. Pour the strawberries in syrup into a mixing bowl.
• Add the blackberries, raspberries and kiwi fruit. If desired, add more sugar to taste. Let chill before serving. To serve, spoon equal portions of the compote into 6 serving dishes. Top each serving with a pear half. Spoon a little cassis over each serving.

FRUIT COMPOTE IN RED WINE

Steps:

• Place the orange peel and honey in a heavy sauce pan, simmer slowly about 10 minutes, until the peel begins to look translucent.
• Add remaining ingredients and simmer about 40 minutes, until the fruit is tender. If too much of the liquid evaporates during cooking, add a little additional orange juice or some water.
• Cool to room temperature, remove cinnamon sticks, then chill before serving. Spoon into individual goblets or bowls.

PLUM, RASPBERRY AND RED WINE COMPOTE

Steps:

• Combine plums and raspberries in large bowl. Combine wine, 1 1/2 cups water and sugar in large saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and boil until reduced to 2 2/3 cups, about 20 minutes. Pour hot wine mixture over plum mixture. Cool. Cover and chill overnight.
• Spoon fruit mixture into dessert glasses or bowls. Top with cream.

WARM BERRY COMPOTE

Steps:

• Melt the butter over a low heat. Stir in the sugar and vanilla extract, then cook until the sugar melts. Toss in the raspberries and blueberries. Give them a good shake, then cook for 2-3 mins until the fruit starts to soften. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.