Evie, this is from your inspiration holiday feast which was put on by bishop Duncan a few days ago.
I wanted to try one of the items on the Medieval feast page. Poached pears sounded good and different and not too hard to make.
Then I found this recipe and I tried it on Friday night at my sister's house. YUM!
Ingredients:
* Pears - The recipe states Bosc pears but I used Bartlet - Either one for each person or one for every two people. Four pears fit well in the sauce pan.
*3 cups dry red wine(such as a Cabernet or Merlot)
((I changed this out to a rose desert wine with a hint of strawberries and raspberries. I like my wines sweet. Bishop Denis you can always send me a bottle of Dhessa wine. It came out really taste. Only the pears did not turn red as they would have in a red wine.))
*1/2 cup sugar
*Orange Zest (peel from one large orange)
*Juiced one large orange ( about 1/2 cup)
*1 cinnamon stick
* a couple of whole cloves
For Whipped Cream (( this stuff is really good))
*1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
* 3 tablespoons mascarponi cheese (( this is an Italian desert cheese, found it in the special cheese section of the grocery store. ))
*2 tablespoons powdered sugar
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mulled wine:
Combine wine, sugar, orange peel, orange juice, cinnamon stick and cloves in a saucepain. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, 5 minutes.
Pear preparation:
In a separate sauce pan bring water to a boil. Cut the Bottom of the pears so that they will stand upright in a dish. Hollow out the center seeds from the bottom. One at a time put the pears in the boiling water for less then 60 seconds. Take out and peal the pears. As you take out a pear put the next one in the water. You can peal all your pears quickly and easily this way. OH and remember to leave the stem intact on the pear top and be careful not the bruise the pears.
Cooking the pears:
Gently place the pears in the simmering spiced wine. Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes depending upon the size. Turn pears every 5 minutes with a slotted spoon to ensure even color. Pears should be cooked but still firm. Cool to room temperature, turning occasionally to ensure even color.
Refrigerate in the liguid for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.Turn pears occasionally in the refrigerator.
Whipped Cream:
Combine whipping cream, mascarponi, powdered sugar and vanilla extract in a deep bowl. Beat until thick and the consistency of whipped cream. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Before serving:
Remove pears from the liquid and place on a serving plate. Strain spiced liquid and place back in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook until reduced by at least half. Liquid should be slightly syrupy. Let cool to room temperature. Drizzle pears with sauce and serve with Mascarpone Whipped Cream. (( Just before serving, I sliced the pears in half but left them standing looking like they were whole. Or you could serve them whole, to each person. ))
((I am not a great cook, But I have to admit, these came out really, really good!))
Enjoy
That looks seriously scrummy Laurna
Yum!
If we didn't already have three dessert options planned for Christmas dinner, I'd try that! Filing it away for some other occasion! :D
I would not be ashamed to serve those pears to any visiting royalty or Princes of the Church!
I once used a recipe that called for Moscato (A sweet white Italian wine), mixed 50/50 with apple cider, 1/2 cup sugar, strips of lemon zest, star anise, a cinamon stick and a vanilla bean. The serving portion was about the same, 1 pear per person, you reduce the poaching liquid and serve with whipped cream. That mascarpone whipped cream would probably also be very good with those!
Thanks Laurna. I was tempted to try them for our Boxing Day feast with Revanne and family but I cannot face the supermarket queue again. Next year. Btw, Has Boxing Day made it over the Pond or is it only a Britishism?
Boxing Day isn't really a thing in the US, no.
I overheard a conversation the other day about part of the idea of Boxing Day being that you box up the things you don't need any more (particularly in light of gifts you received for Christmas) and donate them. Is that the case? (I'm genuinely not sure; it makes sense, though, so I thought I'd ask.)
I think it came from when people used to give Christmas boxes ie gifts - often of money - to their servants which would be after all their hard work over Christmas. So not quite qwhat you heard but not a million miles away.
It is now a public holiday as is New Year's day so a lot of people take annual leave (minimum 20 days here in addition to public holidays) to make up the days in between to give a nice long break.
Clergy normally take the week off after Christmas. Yay!!
Quote from: revanne on December 23, 2018, 10:37:55 AM
I think it came from when people used to give Christmas boxes ie gifts - often of money - to their servants which would be after all their hard work over Christmas. So not quite qwhat you heard but not a million miles away.
It is now a public holiday as is New Year's day so a lot of people take annual leave (minimum 20 days here in addition to public holidays) to make up the days in between to give a nice long break.
Clergy normally take the week off after Christmas. Yay!!
Yay for that, seeing as how hard you must work during the holiday. Yet seeing as the twelve days of Christmas are not over until twelfth night, does that mean you are still on for another hard week after new years? Or is that just old tradition?
I myself only learned about boxing day a few years back. We do Christams and New Years. We started doing twelfth night a dozen years ago or so when the historical home association that my sister has her home with does a progressive dinner visiting three different historical homes by carriage ride during the evening. One year we actually had the main course meal in the home that she purchased three years ago. We fell in love with the staircase. Funny how things come around.
We have boxing day here in Canada. It's a holiday except for all those poor souls in retail that have to be up and in to work by 4:00 a.am. to be ready for the shopping crowds that show up by 6:00 a.m. It's worse than black Friday in the US, I think.
DS1 used to work at Future Shop; he was never happy about having to get up so early the day after Christmas.