Pear Halves Poached In Sangria With Toffee And Cream Food

VANILLA POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Place the white wine, water, sugar and vanilla bean and pulp into a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
• Core the pears from the bottom. Decrease the heat to medium low and place the pears into the liquid, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender but not falling apart. Maintain a gentle simmer. Remove the pears to a serving dish, standing them upright, and place in the refrigerator.
• Remove the vanilla bean from the saucepan, increase the heat to high and reduce the syrup to approximately 1 cup of liquid, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Do not allow the syrup to turn brown. Place the syrup in a heatproof container and place in the refrigerator until cool, approximately 1 hour.
• Remove the pears from the refrigerator, spoon the sauce over the pears and serve.

ROASTED PEAR SANGRIA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Slice a thin layer off the bottom of each pear to make a flat surface. Stand the pears cut-side down in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Whisk together the honey and 1 cup water and pour over the pears. Add the star anise and cinnamon sticks. Cover with foil and roast until the pears are tender and the liquid has reduced, about 45 minutes. Let cool.
• Place the pears in the bottom of a large pitcher and add the red wine and elderflower liqueur. Refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to serve, pour the pear sangria into large glasses over Cranberry Ice Cubes and garnish with mint. Top each drink with a splash of cava.
• Put 2 to 3 cranberries in each compartment of an ice cube tray and fill with water. Freeze until set.

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.

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.

PEAR HALVES POACHED IN SANGRIA WITH TOFFEE AND CREAM

Steps:

• ---For pears---
• Peel, halve, core and de-stem pears.
• Pour entire bottle of sangria in large saucepan or small pot.
• Add sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Stir until sugar is dissolved over a high heat-creating a syrup mixture.
• Place pear halves in syrup mixture, ensuring that they are at least 90% covered.
• You can add a bit of water and more sugar if needed.
• Allow the pears to poach over high heat until they soften, but are still slightly firm.
• The firmness is a personal preference.
• I like them more firm--about 40 minutes.
• When they are poached to your satisfaction, remove the pears and set them aside.
• Leave the syrup mixture on the high heat- reduce until thickened.
• ---For toffee--- Take out a baking sheet Place butter and brown sugar in medium sauce pan Stir over medium heat until mixture begins to bubble Lower heat slightly and continuously stir until the mixture begins to hold together while you are stirring.
• Test for doneness by dropping a bit of the toffee from a spoon into a glass of water.
• If the toffee bead is hard when pressed, it is done.
• Spread toffee out on baking sheet.
• Distribute chocolate chips evenly on toffee.
• When they begin to show a sheen, spread them out with a spatula so the chocolate covers all of the toffee.
• Place in refrigerator until well hardened.
• Break into manageable sized pieces, a few larger than the others.
• ---For cream--- With a whisk or mixer, whip the cream and confectioner's sugar until the cream can stand on its own.
• It should start to form peaks without getting lumpy.
• Lumpy means you are about to make butter instead of whipped cream.
• This is from experience.
• ---To Plate this dessert-- Drizzle the plate with your syrup Place the pear halves, cut side down on the plate so the wide ends are together.
• Stand a larger piece of toffee between the pear halves.
• You may have to tuck the bottom edge under one of the pear halves and let it lean a bit.
• Place healthy dollops of creme anywhere toffee and pear meet.
• Heck, put it anywhere you like!
• Break up smaller pieces of toffee and scatter them around the plate a bit.
• Serve immediately or you will pick at it and it won't be pretty anymore, then you'll end up eating it yourself.