Name: Sticky Red Wine Poached Pears
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 75 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 lemon (juiced); 2 bay leaves; 1 cup water; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 6 ripe pears (peeled); 1 lemon (peels cut into thin strips); 2 cups red wine (I used a shiraz/syrah for a deeper colour and flavour); 1 cup brown sugar (muscavado sugar, or honey); 3-4 sticks star anise or cinnamon sticks; mascarpone (creme fraiche, greek yoghurt, ice cream or coconut yoghurt (dairy-free))

Instructions

Cut a thin slice off the bottom of the pears so they can stand upright when it comes to plating/serving them.
Place lemon peel, lemon juice, red wine, water, sugar, vanilla, star anise and bay leaves in a medium-size pot and stir to combine.
Add pears (don’t worry if they fall on their sides), cover and bring to a gentle boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour or until the pears are tender and a gorgeous ruby-red colour. Swirl the pot around a few times during cooking so that the pears move around a bit and get covered in the red wine.

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Chef's Notes

Tip: the pears will keep in the syrup in a covered container for a couple of weeks. The syrup can be re-used to poach other fruit, or reduced down further to make a sticky dessert syrup to drizzle over ice cream.
What I love about poached pears is that the flavour base is really up to you – you can poach in juice or wine, and add any aromatics (flavours) you like, along with some sugar or honey to sweeten it up; just follow the ratio of liquid and sweetener below. For example, try orange juice and with honey and ginger. Serve with mascarpone, creme fraiche or greek yoghurt with vanilla mixed through,ice cream or coconut yoghurt for a great dairy free option.