This Weeknight-Pleasant French Dessert Requires Only a Bottle of Wine and a Few Pears

Step into my residence, and also you’ll discover many, many bottles of wine on my eating desk. My husband imports Portuguese wine, and his job entails opening and tasting numerous fermented grape juice at eating places, bars, and wine shops. Often the leftover wine goes to our neighbors, but when I’m feeling resourceful, I’ll incorporate it into dishes like braised brief ribs and risotto, or flip it into poaching liquid for winter fruit reminiscent of quince or pears. 

Crimson wine poached pears—poire à la Beaujolaise—are a traditional French dessert you may discover on the menus of bistros and brasseries: Pears are simmered with purple wine, sugar, and generally an assortment of heat spices till tender, then served with their poaching liquid. It’s a minimal-effort dessert that’s elegant sufficient for a cocktail party, but in addition easy sufficient to arrange on a weeknight. Plus, you may make the dessert as much as three days forward of if you plan to serve it, and because the pears sit of their poaching liquid, they tackle an exquisite burgundy hue.

Although the dish is historically ready with Beaujolais, a fruity purple wine produced from Gamay grapes, nearly any purple wine will work simply fantastic right here. (Except you might have a particularly refined palate or nostril, the distinction is barely discernible.) The number of pears you employ issues lower than the ripeness of the pears: You need them to be simply ripe and starting to melt, however not so tender that they are going to disintegrate throughout poaching. I’ve a tender spot for Bartlett and Starkrimson pears—they’re each juicy and, when ripe, soften however nonetheless retain some firmness, making them best for cooking with. Their skins additionally change colour as they ripen, providing you with a good suggestion of once they’re prepared to make use of: Bartlett pears flip yellow, whereas Starkrimsons grow to be a brighter purple. When unsure, really feel your pears and inhale deeply—the fruit ought to yield barely when gently pressed and scent candy.

To provide my poached pears a taste profile just like that of wintry mulled wine, I incorporate a mix of recent orange peel, a cinnamon stick, cloves, black peppercorns, and star anise, including simply sufficient to the wine to offer the liquid a heat spiced observe, however not a lot that it overwhelms the pears. Whereas the pears are scrumptious when served with their poaching liquid, I prefer to take it a step additional and cut back the wine for a extra concentrated sauce. After I take away the spices, I simmer the poaching liquid till it thickens to a glaze, then spoon it over the pears. Loved on their very own or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or drizzle of vanilla sauce, it’s a dessert that makes me really feel like I’m sitting within the heat glow of a French bistro—even when I’m simply sitting on my sofa at residence.

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