Poached Pears With Gingerbread Cider Syrup Food

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.

POACHED PEARS WITH GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 8 3/4-by-4 1/4-by-2 3/4-inch loaf pan, and set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 4 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• In a large bowl, sift together ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour. Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low speed just until the flour has been incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan, and smooth the top with a spatula.
• Bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Run a knife between the cake and the pan, and invert onto a serving platter.
• Using a paring knife, make a trough in the center of the cake: Insert knife halfway into the cake, and cut a rectangle, leaving a 3/4-inch border all around. Insert a serrated knife through one long side of the cake, intersecting the cut made by the paring knife through the top. Cut bottom of the trough, being careful not to cut through the shorter sides or all the way through the cake. Lift out trough, and reserve for snacking. Cover cake with plastic until ready to assemble.
• Peel pears, and place in a medium saucepan. Add remaining ingredients and just enough water to cover pears.
• Set saucepan over high heat, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, 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 red-wine syrup in an airtight container until ready to assemble dessert.
• Place heavy cream, sugar, and cinnamon in a chilled medium bowl. Using a whisk, whip cream until soft peaks form. Cover with plastic, and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Slice poached pears in half, and remove the cores with a melon baller. Unwrap cake, and dust with confectioners' sugar. Stand halved pears in the trough of the cake. Drizzle 2 tablespoons red-wine syrup over the tops. Serve cake with additional syrup, and dollop each portion with cinnamon whipped cream.

RED WINE POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Juice the lemon and orange, reserving the juiced citrus halves. Put the juice, citrus halves, wine, water, honey, ginger, black peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, star anise and bay leaf in a wide saucepot. Gently place the pears into the liquid. Make a circle of parchment paper that is 1/2-inch larger than the pot and cover surface completely with the parchment paper (see Cook's Note*). Make sure the pears are fully submerged but not touching the bottom of the pot. Bring the poaching liquid and pears to a boil, then reduce the heat to just below a simmer.
• Cook the pears until fork tender. Test for doneness by inserting a sharp knife in the base; there should be little resistance when fully cooked. Gently transfer pears to a glass or ceramic bowl. Pour enough poaching liquid over pears just to cover. Cover and refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight; the longer the pears soak, the darker they will become.
• Strain remaining poaching liquid and return to saucepan. Cook over high heat until a syrupy consistency is achieved or the syrup coats the back of a spoon. Chill until the pears are served.
• Use a parisienne scoop to remove each pear's core, hollowing out a 1-inch wide cavity that starts at the base and extends 3/4 of the way up the pear. Transfer the Creamy Pistachio Nut Filling to a piping bag without a tip. Gently fill the pear cavity until it slightly overflows. (The overflow will help to provide a sticky surface to stand the pear up on.) Place the pear, base side down, in a bowl and surround with 1-ounce of the syrup. Serve.
• In a medium-sized bowl, cream the mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla together. Stir in the pistachio nuts.
• Use immediately or refrigerate and return to room temperature before filling the pears.

POACHED PEARS WITH GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• TO MAKE THE GINGERBREAD CAKE: Heat oven to 350°F Butter an 8 3/4 x 4 1/2 x 2 3/4-inch loaf pan, and set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-4 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
• In a large bowl, sift together ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour. Gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix on low speed just until the flour has been incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan, and smooth top with a spatula.
• Bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Run a knife between the cake and the pan, and invert onto a serving platter.
• Using a paring knife, make a trough in the center of the cake: Insert knife halfway into the cake, and cut a rectangle, leaving a 3/4-inch border all around. Insert a serrated knife through one long side of the cake, intersecting the cut made by the paring knife through the top. Cut bottom of the the trough, being careful not to cut through the shorter sides or all the way through the cake. Lift out trough, and reserve for snacking. Cover cake with plastic until ready to assemble.
• TO MAKE POACHED PEARS: Peel pears, and place in a medium saucepan. Add remaining ingredients and just enough to cover pears.
• Set saucean over high heat, and bring ot a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, 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 red-wine syrup in an airtight container until ready to assemble dessert.
• TO MAKE THE CINNAMON CREAM: Place heavy cream, sugar, and cinnamon in a chilled medium bowl. Using a whisk, whip cream until soft peaks form. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until ready to use.
• TO ASSEMBLE DESSERT: Slice poached pears in half, and remove the cores with a melon baller. unwrap cake, and dust with confectioners' sugar. Stand halved pears in the trough of the cake. Drizzle 2 tablespoons red-wine syrp over the tops. Serve cake with additional syrup and dollop each portion with cinnamon whipped cream.

POACHED PEARS WITH GINGER

Steps:

• Bring all ingredients except pears to a simmer over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, peel pears and cut in half lengthwise. Use a small spoon or melon baller to scoop out core and seeds from each half, leaving stems intact. Trim fibrous strip from center with a paring knife. Gently lower pears into pot. If not completely covered by liquid, lay a piece of parchment paper directly on pears.
• Cook until a paring knife slides easily into pears, meeting slight resistance, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat; let cool in liquid 30 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pears to a large bowl; cover with parchment paper. Cook liquid over medium heat until syrupy, about 15 minutes; discard vanilla pod and ginger. Let cool. Serve two pear halves in each bowl; spoon syrup over pears.

POACHED PEARS WITH GINGERBREAD CIDER SYRUP

Steps:

• Mix cider, brandy, sugar, cinnamon sticks, cloves, lemon peel, lemon juice and ginger in deep 2-quart saucepan just large enough to hold the pears. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Add pears; cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until just tender when pierced.
• Remove pears from saucepan and reserve liquid. Stand pears upright in a bowl to cool. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Meanwhile, bring reserved liquid to boil in same saucepan. REDUCE HEAT until it is just bubbling and cook for about 15 minutes or until syrupy. Strain and cool. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• To serve: Place pears in a standing position on individual dessert plates and spoon some of the syrup over each pear. Sprinkle lightly with chopped pecans and cinnamon if desired. Really looks great with a mint sprig as a garnish as well.

POACHED SAFFRON PEARS

Steps:

• Soak the saffron in warm water and leave for an hour. Dissolve the caster sugar in the water and ginger wine in a medium pan. Turn up the heat and boil for 3-4 minutes before adding the star anise and orange peel. Turn the heat to low and add the pears, peeled with stalks left on. Press scrunched greaseproof paper lightly over the pears. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes, occasionally turning.
• Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Strain the syrup into a jug and stir in the soaked saffron and liquid. Pour over the pears. Cover and chill for 24 hours, turning once.
• Place each pear on a separate plate, drizzle over a little syrup. Serve with dollops of mascarpone.