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Photo of Red Wine-Poached Pears by WW

Red Wine-Poached Pears

4
Points® value
Total Time
10 hr 5 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
1 hr 55 min
Serves
6
Difficulty
Easy
Wine-poached pears are as classic and elegant as a simple black dress that never goes out of style. In this recipe, the pears are poached in a delicious red-wine mixture until tender enough to be easily pierced with a paring knife. It requires just six ingredients, one of which is water. You have to let the pears marinate at least overnight, or you can leave them in the fridge for up to 4 days, and the flavours get more concentrated as time goes on. You can have a bag of the pears ready to go whenever you need a sweet treat to end your day.

Ingredients

Merlot red wine

1½ cup(s), or Cabernet Sauvignon

Sugar

¼ cup(s)

Lemon zest

2 strip(s), (3 inches each), removed with a vegetable peeler

Cinnamon sticks

1 item(s), 3 inches

Bartlett pear

6 medium, (5 ounces each), firm-ripe, or Bosc pears with stems

Instructions

  1. In a saucepan just large enough to hold pears, combine wine, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup water and set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Remove saucepan from heat.
  2. Meanwhile, peel pears, leaving stems intact. To wine mixture, add pears and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, turning pears occasionally, until evenly colored and tender when pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes.
  3. With a slotted spoon, transfer pears to a bowl. Pour poaching liquid through a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium saucepan; discard solids. Bring liquid to a boil. Cook until syrupy and reduced to 1⁄2 cup, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
  4. Transfer pears to a large zip-top plastic bag. Add cooled syrup. Squeeze out most of the air and seal bag. Gently turn bag to coat pears. In a large bowl, place bag with pears; refrigerate, turning bag several times, at least overnight or up to 4 days. To serve, place pears on dessert plates and spoon syrup over.
  5. Serving size: 1 pear and about 1 tbsp syrup

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