Pears spend their time swinging in the wind until autumn comes. Bumping into branches, bruising cannot be seen until they ripen sadly. These pears are simple to prepare, cook and store well. Don’t worry about small holes or bruising all can be removed, served sliced will still look amazing. Once cooked and sliced the delicate crimson colours change as you cut through the pear.
We share these with our friends and family as there is often a glut at harvest time. These make a nice festive present and are welcomed by all.
Best served at room temperature like all fruit, for a simple starter with goats cheese, watercress and roasted walnuts. We serve ours with our homemade rosehip vinegarette a by product from our rosehip syrup…delicious. Great with all seasonal game, cheese course or as a dessert with chocolate, pannacotta or inside a tart.
Ingredients:
- 4 Peeled Concorde or ripe pears (cored if you like)
- 1 Bottle Red Wine
- 150 ml water
- 6 Cloves
- 2 Star Anise
- ½ Cinnamon Stick
- 6 blackpeppercorns
- 6 Cardoman Pods
- 15 Coriander Seeds
- 1 Lemon (juice & zest)
- 1 Orange (juice & zest)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small sprig of thyme
- 350g Castor sugar
Method
Take all ingredients, place in a muslin spice bag and place into a steep sided pan, bring to a slow simmer for 5 minutes then pull off and leave for 1 hour to infuse.
Bring the mulled syrup back to a simmer and slowly place the peeled pears in the syrup (I actually prefer to leave the stalk on and core in, however if you remove the core the cooking time is reduced).
Then place a fitting plate on top and slowly simmer for about 25minutes (this will keep the peats under the syrup, cooking time will depend on ripeness and speed of cooking, keep checking every 5 minutes towards the end).
Once a small sharp knife passes easily into the thickest part, place pears in a sterilised kilner jar whilst hot and pour in warm liquor until covered. I place a small cartouche or greaseproof hat on the top so the pears are covered and not exposed to the air. Fasten the lid and leave to cool.
Tips
Best if left in the syrup for a week before eating, any left over syrup reduce in a pan to drizzle over the pears OR for a delicious dressing take 1 tablespoon reduce syrup, 1 table spoon red wine vinegar and 3 tables of rapeseed oil with 1 ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard and shake together in plastic bottle until its has emulsified or thickened.
