Here is another classic, simple, easy, delicious and impressive fruit dessert you can do for a special dinner like New Year’s Eve, a wedding anniversary or even Three Kings. 
And the key ingredient, Bosc pears, are now on offer at S&R Price and other good groceries/fruit vendors. Make sure you start with ripe but still firm pears. Peel them, and leave the stems on. Slice a small portion off of the bottom to make sure the pears stand upright for presentation purposes. Next, in a pan that can accommodate all of the pears, add several cups of water, say a cup or two of granulated white sugar, a leftover half-bottle of red wine, a stick of cinnamon and or half a vanilla bean. Simmer this gently and poach the pears for say 25-30 minutes until just soft; don’t overcook. Remove the pears and stand them up on a serving platter. Allow the pears to cool, this process can be done hours before your dinner.
Next make a raspberry coulis or sauce. Buy some frozen raspberries (or get fresh if you have access), throw them into a blender, add some of the leftover poaching liquid (say ½ cup, and a generous splash of raspberry liquor or since I didn’t have any, I 
added some Poire Williams or pear brandy and blitz this all up. Strain the seeds out of the sauce and refrigerate until used. When serving this dessert, plate up a pear on an individual dessert plate (sometimes, half a pear is the right serving size, though I can personally eat a whole pear with no problem at all), drizzle with the bright red raspberry sauce and add a dollop of good whipped cream. Yum. Very good. The pear is soft but not mushy, it is sweet but not cloyingly so, with flavors of cinnamon and vanilla, and the tart and liquored coulis is the perfect foil for the poached fruit. The cream puts it all over the top. If you have leftover mint leaves, garnish with them…
7 Responses
Poached pears in red wine, sugar, brandy and cinnamon stick and raspberry sauce on the side is one of my favorites. It must be Bosc variety for the pear, other pear varieties they do not come out good with poaching. It is 1-2-3. I use regular brandy in poaching. I omit whipped cream when I eat this one but when I have company I keep the whipped cream on the side that I whipped with two teaspoons of Poire William for added kick.
I have a ton of recipes with pears I have been meaning to try (especially since I saw these ones at S&R)…some salads and desserts…this is definitely going on that list! :)
My mom has a stand like your green one (pictured above with the pears) except it’s blue :)
This look great. I also just poached some pears in honey and sugar.
i always serve this whenever i can’t think of a dessert. . . hehe pears are cheap and i like it better than apple. i cut the poach pears in half remove the core to create a cup then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream plus chocolate sauce, hehehe they will all be impressed. . .
my two cents…
it would be a good idea to core the pears before poaching. a melon-baller will do a good job. this not only gives that extra touch, i.e., guests don’t need to remove core, it also assists in even cooking.
a variation for the raspberry coulis is to cook the raspberries in a small amount of the poaching liquid or water + sugar. don’t stir, when the liquid is about coating spoon consistency, remove from heat and strain (no need to blend). this adds to the flavour and gives a shiny gloss to the coulis, and when plated, looks like pieces of red glass.
happy new year, MM and everyone!
Oh, coring a pear sounds like a good idea… and the vanilla ice cream is nice as well. This is a festive special occasion dessert but just as easy as making an everyday sweet…
Hi MM! A Blessed New Year to you! I like this feature a lot! Reminded me of poached pears I had but the core was stuffed with guess what? — blue cheese! I’ll dig up the photo and email it to you! It’s so insanely good! Had it for dinner once at a good friends’ place with a private chef!