Poached Pears

From the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis

Introduction

This is one of our favorite fall and winter desserts. It is very simple, but the flavors of the brown sugar syrup laced with citrus, cinnamon, and vanilla make it elegant enough to serve to company. Any leftover syrup (if there is any) is wonderful over ice cream topped with chopped pecans.

Ingredients

Syrup

Topping suggestions

Steps

1. Peel pears, cut in half lengthwise, and remove cores. Place pear halves in a dish in a single layer and sprinkle with the mixture of water and lemon juice to keep them from turning brown.
2. Combine syrup ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan and bring them to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer for 5 minutes, and strain into a 10-inch straight-sided pan.
3. Drain pear halves and place them, cut side down, in the syrup. Simmer, uncovered, for 8 minutes, turning them and cooking only until tender when pierced with a fork, about 4 more minutes. Do not overcook, or they will fall apart when you remove them. Remove pan from heat and allow pears to cool in the syrup. Serve cut side up, spooning about a tablespoon of syrup over pears before adding one of the suggested toppings.

This content is from the book The Basic Gourmet by Diane Morgan, Dan Taggart, Kathleen Taggart, and Georgia Vareldzis.