POACHED PEARS IN SPICED RED WINE

Poached pears in spiced red wine image

A completely fat-free pud that isn't boring. It's not just Good Food, it's genius

Provided by Sara Buenfeld

Time 50m

Number Of Ingredients 6

Ingredients

1 vanilla pod
1 bottle red wine
225g caster sugar
1 cinnamon stick, halved
fresh thyme sprig, plus sprigs to seve
6 pears, peeled, but kept whole with stalk intact

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.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 235 calories, Carbohydrate 51 grams carbohydrates, Sugar 51 grams sugar, Fiber 2 grams fiber, Sodium 0.3 milligram of sodium