Friday, September 14, 2012

Spiced-Poached Pears

The perfect time of year for this recipe- tasty and worth preparing for the aroma alone !
Per Nana ~
It feels like Fall here in Pennsylvania, the weather has been gorgeous, 
makes you want to cook or bake something. This week's selection for 
French Friday with Dorie was spiced-poached apples or pears. 
The aroma of all those spices cooking on the stove makes me think
 about the coming holidays. Tricia and I had a fun trip to  Penzey's 
Spices the  other night and found (hopefully) all we needed for the 
months ahead. For this recipe, I used Bosc pears rather than apples.  
Possibly I used a bit too much star anise, the flavors were extremely
 strong.  I could not decide if two pieces meant 2 whole stars or  2 points 
of the star. More is better, right ? So in went two stars. The syrup turned 
out well, a bit sweet, but we topped it with a dab of sour cream. 
All in all, it was a pleasant dessert, and I will be making it again.

Per Tricia~
This was a simple and wonderful recipe. I decided to "donate" 
a jar of my particularly good Savannah Bee Company honey
 to the cause so I imagine that helped the results as well. 
 I hadn't made spiced-poached fruit before, but will definitely do it again.  
The aroma in the house was amazing and the recipe was simple and quick. 
 Luckily I still had some of that Nelson's vanilla ice cream
 left from the peach melba, (fairly miraculous....) so hubby and I 
enjoyed yet  another glorious dessert.  Thank you Dorie ! 

20 comments:

  1. I thought the syrup was a bit strong too, but when eaten with the fruit it was really good. Love your presentations; cream or ice cream will always work! Have a great weekend!

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  2. I, too, thought the syrup was sweeter than I'd prefer. It's still so cozy and delicious, though. I love poached fruit. Looks like yours came out great!

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  3. Ah - the vanilla ice cream looks like a mandatory accompaniment to this dish. Yum!

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  4. Nana and Tricia: both your presentations look very lovely! The aromas were very strong but amazing and I love the way you took pictures of the wonderful spices that you used.

    Have a terrific weekend!

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  5. It sounds like pears are the way to go. I like the sour cream idea to off set all the sweetness.

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  6. I'm looking forward to trying this with pears, too. I really enjoyed the poaching liquid over ice cream, but a little sour cream or creme fraiche sounds lovely, too.

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  7. The poached fruit looks fantastic. Next time I am going to have to try it with ice cream.

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  8. Great job Tricia and Nana. I found these too tart initially, but they mellowed nicely.

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  9. Both pears look delicious. I'm wondering if the tartness is from the anise because I didn't find mine tart at all...

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  10. These all look fantastic and have me wanting to make them all again this weekend. Of course, a good part of my zeal is the discovery that the poaching liquid makes a good ingredient in a martini concoction and I need more of the liquid to experiment some more. But having more pears for my breakfast has appeal too. I think I'd like the dab of sour cream on them for sure! Great idea.

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    1. Ha! ..."...good part of my zeal...martini concoction"! Yes sir!

      Yep gals, the sour cream is a good call!

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  11. I have to try it again with pears! Your photos look delicious!

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  12. I thought the syrup was a little too sweet…but definitely worth making again! Both of your pear dishes look wonderfully delicious…with beautiful photos! And the fragrance was lovely! Have a great weekend, Ladies!!

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  13. Oh my that ice cream… luscious! This WAS a great dish!

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  14. both of your dishes look lovely, and it's nice to be able to compare the textures (at least visually) between the two types of pears.

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  15. I used the 2 whole star anise- I adore those little beauties. The sauce was quite nice but a bit sweet (perhaps 3 star anise would do the trick & less honey). Anyway- yours look totally scrumptious!

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  16. I am so ready for fall. It's been miserably hot with record temps this summer on the island. Maybe that's why I went with a salad. Thank you for your thoughts and encouragement.

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  17. Beautifully done, both of you! I think we chose right with the pears :) And a little booze would be a lovely addition~

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  18. I went with two whole stars, and though the anise flavor was unmistakeable, it wasn't too strong to me. I wish I'd tried the pears as the apples fell apart completely. I will make this fall dessert again though. Tricia, sorry to hear about your freshman's woes. Hope the mono runs its course quickly and he makes a speedy recovery. The rain check still stands when he's back in Boston, though. Take care.

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  19. I omitted the anise - I have never learned to like licorice - and really enjoyed this one. Great idea with the sour cream! This was a little sweet.

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