Green Tea Poached Pears With Pistachio Brittle Food

POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Peel the pears, and place in medium saucepan. Add wine, sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick, orange peel, lemon peel, cloves, star anise, bay leaf, and just enough water to cover pears.
• Set saucepan over high heat, and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, occasionally stirring gently, over medium-low heat, until a paring knife easily pierces pears, about 15 minutes. Remove pan from heat; let pears cool in liquid.
• Using a slotted spoon, transfer pears to a plate. Pour poaching liquid through a sieve set over a bowl. Discard solids, and return liquid to saucepan. Place over medium-high heat, and cook until liquid has been reduced to a syrup that coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 45 minutes. Let cool; store pears in an airtight container until ready to serve.
• When ready to serve, arrange pears on a platter or on individual plates, and drizzle poaching liquid over them.

PEARS POACHED IN GREEN TEA

Steps:

• Place tea in a glass measuring cup or a teapot. Bring 2 cups water to a simmer, and pour over tea. Steep for 4 minutes.
• Strain tea into a medium pot. Stir in sugar, grapefruit zest, and remaining 1 cup water. Gently simmer, stirring, until sugar has dissolved, about 2 minutes.
• Add grapefruit juice and pears to pot. Cook, adjusting heat so that steam rises from surface but no bubbles appear, until pears are slightly translucent and just tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, divide pears among 4 dishes, and let cool slightly.
• Return liquid to a gentle simmer. Cook until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Pour over pears. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled. Pears can be refrigerated in syrup for up to 2 days.

SPICED TEA POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, combine the water, brown sugar, cranberry sauce and honey. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; add tea bags. Cover and steep for 5-8 minutes., Meanwhile, core pears from bottom, leaving stems intact. Peel pears; cut a thin slice from bottom to level if necessary. Remove and discard tea bags. Add pears to the pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until pears are tender. Remove pears with a slotted spoon and keep warm., In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups tea mixture to a boil; cook until liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup, about 20 minutes., In a small bowl, combine the creme fraiche, confectioners' sugar and orange zest. Place pears on dessert plates. Drizzle with syrup and serve with sauce.

BOURBON-POACHED PEACHES

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice-water bath. Cut a small X into the bottom of each peach. Boil peaches for 1 minute.
• Transfer to ice-water bath. Let cool slightly. Peel and pit peaches, and cut into 3/4-inch-thick wedges.
• Bring 4 cups water, the sugar, and vanilla seeds and pods to a boil in a large saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add peaches and bourbon. Simmer until peaches are tender but still hold their shape, 5 to 7 minutes.
• Transfer peaches to a large bowl using a slotted spoon. Cook syrup over mediumheat until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Pour over peaches. Let cool completely.
• Divide peaches among five 12-ounce sterilized jars using a slotted spoon. (Jars can be sterilized by boiling in water, submerged, for 10 minutes.) Pour syrup over tops. Add vanilla pods to jars if desired. Seal jars, and refrigerate until ready to use.

PISTACHIO BRITTLE

Steps:

• Spray a quarter-sheet tray with cooking spray.
• Combine the baking soda and vanilla paste in a small bowl and reserve.
• In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, syrup, butter and 1 tablespoon water with a wooden spoon. Bring the mixture to 280 degrees F slowly over medium heat. Add the pistachios and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches 300 degrees F, or hard-crack. Remove from the heat and carefully add the baking soda and vanilla paste mixture, continuing to stir.
• Carefully turn out onto the greased sheet tray and spread thinly and evenly with a spoon. Sprinkle sea salt flakes over the top. Let cool at room temperature until hardened, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Break into pieces. Eat as-is or with vanilla ice cream. Store any remaining in an airtight container.

POACHED PEARS IN SPICED TEA

Steps:

• Put the sugar, honey, jelly and tea bags into a big saucepan with 600ml water and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the pear halves, then cover and simmer for 12-15 mins until the pears are just tender - poke them with a skewer or the tip of a knife.
• Lift out the pears, then turn up the heat, throw in the cranberries and boil for a few mins until syrupy. Discard the tea bags. Serve the pears with the warm syrup poured over and a spoonful of crème fraîche or yogurt.

PEAR CHIPS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat (such as a Silpat); set aside.
• In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine sugar with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved, about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; keep at a simmer as you proceed.
• Using a mandoline or a very sharp knife, slice pear lengthwise as thinly as possible; make sure that each slice remains intact and is uniformly thick. Do not worry about removing seeds or the core (they soften during baking). Squeeze lemon halves over pear slices, coating both sides with juice. Place slices in simmering syrup; cook 2 minutes. Remove slices with a slotted spoon and place on the prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart.
• Bake pear slices until they are dry to the touch, about 2 hours. Using a small offset spatula, loosen edges of slices; use your hands to peel pears from the sheet, then flip them over. Return pears to oven; bake, checking frequently, until chips are completely dry and crisp (but not browned), about 20 minutes.

POACHED PEARS WITH RIESLING

Steps:

• Core pears from the bottom, using a small melon baller to scoop out the seeds. Cut a round of parchment to fit inside a large pot (it should be wide enough to hold the pears in one layer). Place pears in pot along with wine, brown sugar, and enough water to just cover pears (2 to 3 cups). Scrape vanilla bean seeds into pot, then drop in pod. Cover with parchment round.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat; simmer, turning pears occasionally to coat with liquid, until very tender but not falling apart, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on ripeness and size of pears. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pears to a large bowl. Remove and discard vanilla bean pod. Cover bowl with parchment round (or cut a new one to fit).
• Bring poaching liquid to a boil and cook until reduced to consistency of thin syrup, about 10 minutes. Pour syrup over pears and refrigerate, covered with parchment, until cool. Serve pears in shallow bowls or cups; tuck a chocolate-mint leaf into stem end of each one, if desired.

SPICED POACHED PEARS IN CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Steps:

• In a pan big enough to hold the pears snugly, tip in all the ingredients except the pears. Half fill the pan with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 mins to infuse, drop in pears, cover and gently poach for about 30 mins until soft. Turn off the heat and set aside. The pears can be poached up to 2 days ahead and kept in the poaching syrup in the fridge.
• To make the chocolate sauce, tip the chocolate into a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream, milk and cinnamon to the boil and pour over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted. To serve, drain the pears and, holding them by the stem, dip them in the chocolate sauce to completely cover. Serve each pear with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

GREEN TEA-POACHED PEARS WITH PISTACHIO BRITTLE

Steps:

• Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a large saucepan. Cut out a parchment-paper circle the diameter of your saucepan; set aside. Add tea bags to boiling water, remove saucepan from heat, and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove tea bags, squeezing excess liquid into the saucepan, and discard. Add sugar, ginger, orange peel, vanilla pod and seeds to the tea; stir to dissolve sugar. Bring tea mixture to a simmer over medium high heat; cook 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, peel pears, leaving stems intact. Using a melon baller, scoop out the seeds and core from the bottom of each pear. Add pears to saucepan; reduce heat maintaining a gentle simmer. Cover pears with the parchment-paper circle to keep them submerged. Cook until just tender, about 20 minutes.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove pears. Strain cooking liquid; discard solids. Return cooking liquid to saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 30 minutes.
• Place pears on plates and spoon about 2 tablespoons syrup over each pear. Serve with a dollop of mascarpone and brittle. Any remaining syrup can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to one week. Drizzle over ice cream, if desired.