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Pears poached in wine make a great dessert that’s completely fat free but undoubtedly decadent. The recipe is easy to make and you can poach your pears in red or white wine, or port – the methods are similar but once you’ve tried one, you’ll almost certainly want to try them all. This recipe teaches you how to make pears poached in red wine for a delicious flavour and wonderfully rich colour.

Pears poached in red wine

Cut one vanilla pod in half lengthways, and scrape out its black seeds to put them in a large pot with one 750ml bottle of red wine, 225g castor sugar and a cinnamon stick that’s been cut in half. Peel six pears put leave them in one piece, with their stalk, and cook them in the liquid for about 25 minutes – or until they’re tender all the way through. Make sure that they’re covered in wine while cooking. When they’re done, remove from the pan and reduce the liquid further until it becomes a syrup, and coat each of your pears with some of this.

Ahead of time

If you know that you’re going to be pressed for time at a dinner party and you’re planning to serve your poached pears cold, you can make them up to two days in advance and refrigerate them. If you choose to do this, make especially sure that you don’t reduce the liquid too much, as it could set and become more like toffee than syrup.

On the side

Poached pears look beautiful served all on their own, but you can make the dessert even more special by serving pears poached in red wine with ice-cream. If dessert isn’t complete for you without chocolate, top with rich chocolate sauce, and if you’re a fan of baked goods, serve the pears and ice-cream with a piece of shortbread.

Tags: red wine, wine