I got all my ingredients together then I began to cut up the quinces. The first one had a bug that had eaten away some of the quince. That left me with one quince. I drove down to one of the nearest decent fruit shops that I thought might have quinces... but they didn't. So I bought some pears and winged it. I'd already filled the pot with the poaching liquid before I'd cut the quinces so I really did need a plan B.
White wine poached pears
(adapted from Quince Crostata recipe from 'Seasonal Kitchen - Vogue Entertaining')
500ml white wine (I used Zilzie Pinot Grigio)
250mls water
500g caster sugar
6 beurre bosc pears, peeled and left whole
5 cloves
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
2 teaspoons white peppercorns
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon quills
2 star anise
Place all ingredients except pears into a large pot. Bring ingredients to the boil then place pears in the pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until pears are tender. Remove pears and continue simmering liquid to reduce to a syrup.
I served the pear with ice cream and syrup. Plenty of pears left over, so will use yoghurt next time.
I've always wanted to make poached pears but never get around to it - usually I just eat the pears - the idea of getting them at the right stage of ripeness intimidates me - but sounds like you did the right thing after the quinces were off (btw I found quinces hard to find and the ones I bought at the market had many bad bits after sitting a few weeks)
ReplyDeleteHi Johanna, the pears being firmer are good for poaching as they don't go mushy. I have found beurre bosc the best to use. I would like to try this one again, but maybe halve or quarter the pears, or as someone at work suggested, coring them from the bottom, so they look whole, but are hollow inside.
ReplyDeleteDeb,
ReplyDeletei'm actually making something similiar to this tonight. i'm waffling btwn using red or white wine tho. i made a red wine version last weekend that was DIVINE but the cooking time was 5 hours in a very low temp oven. i like the shorter version of yours.
Hope your pears turned out well. I'd like to try the red wine version. Would love your recipe when you get a chance, cheers deb
ReplyDelete