JANE'S SUGESTION

Poached Pears in Red Wine


Ingredients

6 very firm pears
1 bottle of Grand Cros red wine
1/2 cup (120ml) caster sugar
1/2 cup (120ml) Honey
cinnamon sticks
pinch of nutmeg
6 cloves
tea spoon of grated ginger root


Recipe

Peel the pears and place in a bowl and cover with citrus juice. In a sauce pan place all the ingredients (except the wine) with two cups of water and bring to boil, simmer for 15 minutes then add the wine bring to a boil, then add the honey and pears making sure the wine covers the pears, cook very slowly until the pears are tender when you insert a knife, 10 to 20 minutes that depends on how hard the pears were. Turn off the heat and leave the pears sitting in the wine as long as possible.

You can cook them the day before, you can also serve them hot or cold, but before serving you must cook down the wine sauce to make a syrup. You can either remove the pears to serve them cold or heat them up in the wine, then remove the pears and place them in a bowl, boil the sauce down to a syrup and pour it over the pears, and serve. Delicious with a thin slice of Roquefort cheese or crème fresh.