This whole week has been a really busy yet fruitful one. I had the amazing opportunity to attending blogger’s events, writing blog entries and catching with friends over meals during this festive seasons.Dining outside can get pretty expensive and before you know it, you might incur a serious wallet damage without even realising.Instead of eating out, why not try preparing a warm festive meal for your family and friends? It’s inexpensive and best of all, its fun cooking for the people you love.At a recent birthday celebration at Ascott Singapore, I’ve decided to whip up a simple Christmas dessert for my friends after dinner.
Chocolate Eclair Ice-cream with Red Wine Poached Pears
served with walnuts and speculoos
I tasted my very first slice of poached pears in a cozy french home at Montpellier where I was dwelling with my home stay host during my French Immersion programme. My host, a granny in her sixties, would prepare breakfast and dinner for me. Breakfast would usually include yoghurt, Tea, toasted bread with Nutella and some fruits. Dinner has been always my most anticipated meal of the day where she would prepare something special like a barbecue chicken, crepes or rice as main course. Sometimes, she would open a bottle of Rose wine to go along with the dishes. After the appetizer and main course, she would whip up a simple dessert. Sometimes, it’s yoghurt, chocolate pudding or fruits.I remembered there was one occasion where she served poached pears with Nutella and that dessert really send me up to the Heavens. She simply boiled the pears with water and some sugar,add a dollop of Nutella and voila! A truly divine dessert that I could still remember its taste even it was a year ago. It was a perfect combination that I had never thought of. Soft, mellow pears with Chocolate hazel cream.
It’s been almost a year ago and I thought maybe I could prepare a similar dessert for my friends. Instead of serving poached pears with Nutella, maybe I could try doing red-wine poached pears. I went to “google” for recipes and has found several variations of the recipe for poached pears. After browsing through several recipes, I’ve decided what ingredients I would like to use to poach the pears.
Ingredients for Red wine poached pears
Winter Pears ( Green )
A bottle of red wine
Cinnamon
Orange Rind
Sugar
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| First, I removed the skin from the pear and then place it in a huge pot. I’ve also added a couple of cinnamon sticks,fresh orange rind, 4 tablespoonful of sugar into the pot. |
Haut-Medou,Bordeaux (2006)
Bordeaux is a wine-making region in France.
Then, I pour in about half-a-bottle of red wine and add a cup of water into the pot and stir the mixture. You may choose not to add water if you like to achieve a thicker consistency of the red wine sauce.
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| Cover the pot with tracing paper or a pot lid which is tilted slightly to release the built-up pressure from the steam released. Cook the pears for about 45 min or til the pears softened. |
After the poached pears are well-cooked, I sliced the pear into thin slices and serve it with a scoop of ice-cream. I’ve also added some walnut and caramelised-speculoos to add some crunch to the dessert.
Voila!
( As you can see, the thin slices of pear was not entire soaked in red wine due to the lack of time. Ideally, the pear should appear entirely red. To speed things up, the pear could be cut into smaller pieces before poaching)
