Every year during the holiday season I get in to the baking-and-giving mood. I bake cookies, cakes, fruit breads and desserts and I share it with neighbors and friends. V also relaxes his sugar rules and digs in to the desserts and sweets with gusto. The whole house smells of vanilla and spices and everything is perfectly festive.
V and I also cooked a bunch of stews and curries this weekend to store for later in the week. When amma is visiting, we get freshly cooked food every single day, but when we are alone, we simply do not have the energy. So we cook big batches and freeze/refrigerate in airtight containers to consume later. I recently had an argument with my cousin about this. She simply could not understand how I could consume something that is not fresh off the stove. To which my answer is, I would rather do this than eat processed foods or take out from restaurants. She does have a point though. Freezing and refrigerating foods is considered taboo in many cultures even today. Pickling is perhaps the only accepted way of preserving foods.
I expect some research student badly wanting a PhD will soon do a study on the effects of eating precooked and refrigerated food pretty soon! In the meantime, we will continue following our known health rules like being mindful of the Dirty Dozen. Today’s featured produce on our Dirty Dozen series is pears. Apples and pears are #4 and #6 respectively on EWG’s Dirty Dozen list. Terribly unfortunate as both of them are such great fruits to snack on.
When I turned on the oven today for baking my holiday goodies, I also wanted to make a simple dessert for dinner. What is simpler than a dessert that incorporates the natural sweetness of fruit. Like the chia seed pudding with blueberry compote dessert, this dessert with pears is also easy to make and can be made a day ahead.
Recipe for Poached Pears in Red Wine with Spices
Serves 5 – one each
Ingredients:
- 5 short squat organic pears like comice pears (you could use any pear you want but pick ones with stem attached)
- 1 cup of full-bodied red wine
- 1/2 cup orange juice from 2 large oranges
- 2 Tbsp sugar + 1 Tbsp
- 2 sticks cinnamon, broken
- Around 5 whole cloves
- 1-2 cardamom pods (optional)
- 2-3 thick slices of lemon
- Optional: Ice cream for serving
Method:
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Peel the pears with stems intact. Then slice the bottom off a bit so it can stand up
- In a shallow casserole just large enough to hold 5 pears, place the red wine, orange juice, and 2 Tbsps of sugar and stir a bit to dissolve
- Place the pears in the dish. Add the cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom (if using) and lemon slices and cover with aluminum foil
- Bake for around 45 mins. If the liquid does not completely cover the pears, open the oven once or twice to turn the pears on their sides to that the liquid evenly seeps through. I had to do this twice
- Once the pears are tender, but not falling apart, switch off the oven and remove the pears on to a serving dish and refrigerate
- Now strain the liquid in to a sauce pan and throw away the spices and lemon slices. Place it on low heat on the stove, add a tablespoon of sugar and simmer until the liquid has reduced to less than half its volume and takes on a syrupy consistency
- Refrigerate the syrup separately from the pears
- While serving, place one pear on each plate. Spoon some of the red wine syrup on top. Serve with a side of ice cream optionally.
This dessert is perfect for the holidays. First, it is very festive looking and perfect for a small holiday dinner get-together. Secondly, the process of making it makes the whole house smell of spiced cider and mulled wine which puts everyone in a holiday mood. And finally, it is a very light, and not overly sugary dessert. Don’t we get enough sugar during the holiday season anyway? Of course, if you want more sweetness, like we did today, you could serve it with vanilla ice cream.