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The best way to cook poached pears is no doubt in a slow cooker with this delicious red wine sauce. It takes a little longer but it totally worth it!
The fragrant smell of autumn is drifting through the house. That distinct smell of cinnamon, star anise and cardamom combined is making my mouth water in anticipation of what is to come!
Slow cooked poached pears
I’ve always totally loved poached pears. Every autumn my mum (otherwise a terrible cook) would make one of the things she was best at; poached pears. I vividly remember that brilliant dark red color of those pears, so imagine what happened when I created my first batch of pears myself. I had no idea that the color red comes from either a juice you cook them in or wine as in this case. Never, in a million years, had I imagined they came from a jar of so called ‘pear red’. I was slightly desillusioned.
While the pears I made where absolute tasty, they were still pale. Nothing that reminded me of the ruby red of my childhood.
Slow is the way to go
The biggest advantage of preparing these pears in a slow cooker is the fact that the flavors have more time to fully develop. The sauce will probably need to be thickened a bit more as the slow cooker doesn’t make it a thick sauce.
Once the pears are cooked (roughly 3-4 hours in the slow cooker on low) I take them out of the slow cooker. I then pour the liquid in a sauce pan. I take about 1 tablespoon of corn starch and mix it with some of the liquid until all lumps are gone.
Pour it back into the rest of the poaching liquid and bring to a boil. Let it simmer on low until the sauce thickens enough to your liking. Once the sauce it the right consistency I place the pears back into the liquid and let it cool. Of course you can serve them warm or cold, so whichever has your preference.
Perfect for Christmas
The slow cooked poached pears are absolute perfect for Christmas. They can serve as a dessert but think about serving them together with roast ham. The wine sauce can even double as sauce for the meat as well.
If serving as a dessert, I love it with simply some vanilla ice cream. Just pour over some of the wine sauce and you’re dessert is all done!
Slow cooked poached pears in red wine
Ingredients
- 1 bottle fruity red wine
- 150 gr sugar
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 staranis
- 2 kardemom pods crushed
- 1 vanilla bean split open
- one strip of lemon peel
- 2 cloves
- 2 black peppercorns
- 1 kilo small pears I used Gieser Wildeman pears
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp corn starch
Equipment
- Slowcooker
Instructions
- Peel the pears, leave the stalk on. Cut a small slice of the bottom so they will remain standing. Put the pears through the lemon juice to prevents discoloration.
- Pour the wine in the inside pan of your slowcooker, add sugar, honey, cinnamon, staranise, cardamom, vanillabean, lemonpeel, cloves and peppercorns. Put the lid on the slow cooker and turn on to high for about 30 minutes. Stir every now and then until the sugar is dissolved.
- Put the pears into the pan and heat on high for about 2 to 4 hours depending on the size of your pears until they are done.
- Take the pears out of the pan with a slotted spoon and put them in a bowl. Pour the wine into a saucepan and leave to cook on high heat for about 5 to 10 minutes to reduce down. Make the sauce thicker with a little cornstarch, diluted with a bit of water. Put the pears into the liquid and leave to cool
Notes
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
