This is the dinner-party trick that looks like far more work than it is: pears, a bottle of port, a few warm spices, and half an hour. They come out deep ruby, tender to the spoon, in a syrup you’ll want to drink.
Use firm pears so they hold their shape, and don’t rush the reduction at the end — that glossy syrup is what makes the plate.
- Reach for
- ruby port (or a robust fruity red with a little extra sugar).
- How much
- 400ml (most of a small bottle).
- What it’s doing
- it poaches the pears and reduces to a glossy, spiced syrup — staining them ruby and giving a deep, warming sweetness.
- No open bottle?
- a fruity red wine plus 2 tbsp extra sugar makes a fine stand-in for the port.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 4 firm pears, peeled, stalks left on
- 400ml (1¾ cups) ruby port — the poaching liquid and the syrup
- 200ml (¾ cup) water
- 100g (½ cup) caster sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 3 cloves
- 1 strip of orange peel
- 1 vanilla pod, split (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- To serve: mascarpone or vanilla ice cream
Method
-
Prepare the pears. Peel the pears, keeping them whole with their stalks on, and trim the bases so they stand.
-
Make the poaching liquid. In a deep pan just big enough to hold them, combine the port, water, sugar, spices, orange peel and vanilla. Warm gently, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
-
Poach. Lower in the pears and bring to a bare simmer. Poach gently for 20–25 minutes, turning now and then, until tender to the tip of a knife.
Keep them submerged with a circle of baking paper pressed on top, so they colour evenly all over.
-
Lift them out. Lift the pears out carefully and set aside.
-
Reduce the syrup. Turn up the heat and reduce the poaching liquid for about 10 minutes, until glossy and syrupy.
Reduce until it coats the back of a spoon — it will thicken further as it cools.
-
Serve. Sit each pear in a pool of syrup and serve warm with mascarpone or ice cream.
Use the rest
Got a final splash in the bottle? The syrup keeps in the fridge for a week — spoon it over ice cream or porridge. Any leftover port is lovely over a scoop of vanilla.
Pour alongside: a small glass of the same port. Make ahead: poach a day before and reheat gently in the syrup.