Wine Poached Pears on Creme Anglaise

What’s that??? You need a dessert that will knock the socks of your special Valentine?

I got ya…..boy do I got ya!

My husband and I aren’t HUGE into Valentines Day, meaning we don’t go spend hundreds on chocolate, flowers, and stuffed animals. But what we DO do…(saying do do is just weird…everytime) is celebrate Valentines OUR way! We make some lavish, over the top crazy good food and we LOVE every bit of the preparing and eating of said food.

So this year I decided to make something just a few days early and share it with y’all

Ingredients:

Pears

4 pears, ripe but not TOO soft

1 1/2 cups red wine

1 cup sugar

1/2 lemon squeezed

2 strips lemon peel

1 star anise pod

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Creme Anglaise

4 egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar

2 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 tablespoons sour cream

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped

Directions:

Let’s start with the pears. There’s a few steps to tackle in order to prep them for their long steam bath in the wine (don’t be jealous of the pears).

Cut a very small slice off the bottom of the pear. This allows us to core the pear from the bottom (tricky huh) and allows the pears to sit flat on the plate.

Next, I grabbed one of my most versatile kitchen gadgets….THE VEG PEELER This little beauty peels, cores, scores, and has even been used as a mini pry bar! Place the pointy end of the peeler into the bottom of the pear near the middle and gently scoop out all of the seeds and tougher pieces in the center. Scoop gently, we don’t want to take away too much of the pear. It will look like this…..

Next we need to peel the pear….I start from the top near the stem and work my way down. Continue this process with all your pears while keeping the stems in place.

Now that the pears are looking nice and perty….let’s make them a little wine jacuzzi! To a large pot, add the wine, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel strips, star anise, cinnamon, and vanilla.

*Note: Please do NOT put any wine in the pot that you wouldn’t put directly in your mouth! If you don’t drink red wine, and do not know which to purchase…ask a red wine drinking friend to help. There are plenty to choose from that aren’t too spendy. If you DO like red wine, HOORAY you have some extra….pour a glass while you cook!

Now that we have created the poaching liquid….place the pears in the pot and bring to a slow simmer. We don’t want massive bubbling going on,  just a low and slow simmer. Take a smell of that stuff when it starts to simmer….Tell me you wouldn’t want to swim around in there for a bit!

Notice I only have 3 pears….a certain child of mine whom I love dearly decided he needed a pear!

Allow the pears to stay on the first side for about 20 minutes, being careful not to let the liquid boil rapidly. Now here is where the labor of love comes in. These guys are going to poach for about an hour, while very gently being flipped a few times. I spoon liquid over them almost continuously. 1.) It smells heavenly and I can’t resist 2.) It helps to achieve that nice rosy red color.

The flipping can be a little tricky without damaging the pear. I use two slotted spoons and ever so gently roll them over.

You’ll notice that the liquid begins to reduce and thicken….that’s exactly what we want it to do! It’s going to be divine later, just you wait and see.

Near the end of the poaching process, your pears should look like this. Now would ya look at that sauce!!

After they have poached for about an hour, they need to be removed from the pot to cool a bit. Here’s the best way I know how. Place a slotted spoon near the base of the pear…gently lift the stem and rock the pear back into the spoon. Slide gently off the spoon onto a plate.

Now onto the creme…..(fancy way to say cream but oh so good)

In a large glass bowl, place the egg yolks and sugar.

Now think about how much you love that special someone while you whisk the yolks and sugar for 8-10 minutes. I wish I were joking…but I’m not. Think of all the calories you’re burning while you whisk (ok, maybe that only works in MY mind). The yolks need to be a SUPER pale yellow when you’re done, but it really does take 8-10 minutes so no quitting early, except to change arms…several times!

Prepare the vanilla bean by splitting the bean in half lengthwise and gently scraping out the seeds and pulp with the side of a knife.

Into a medium saucepot, place the heavy cream, sour cream and vanilla bean with seeds and pulp. While stirring, bring to a slow boil over low heat. Once the mixture begins to boil, remove the vanilla bean and pour half of the cream into the bowl of egg yolks by adding small additions at a time and whisking the yolks. Once you have added half, place the pot back on the stove and slowly pour the bowl of egg yolks into the pot.

Over medium heat, cook the cream until it thickens slightly, stirring constantly. It should coat the back of a wooden spoon when finished. Remove from the heat and set up an ice bath. Place ice in a large bowl, place a smaller bowl on top, and a fine mesh strainer over the top bowl. It should look like this.

Strain the cream into top bowl and allow it to sit on the ice for a bit, stirring every once in awhile.

After the cream has set up and become a little thicker, it’s time to serve this baby up!

Grab a pretty serving dish and ladle some of the creme anglaise into the center and swirl it slightly to get a nice round pool of creme.

Gently place the pear on top, but don’t press down or the wine sauce will bleed into the creme. If you feel like being super fancy schmantzee….grab a 1/4 teaspoon and scoop up a little tiny bit of the leftover wine sauce and place little dots of it around the edge on top of the creme. Then with a toothpick, gently pull little swirlies out from the dots.

Now would ya look at this!!!!

If you make this for your sweetie, take pics and send them to me at modernmrscleaver@yahoo.com

I would love to highlight them on the facebook page

Signing Off (romantically)

Modern Mrs. Cleaver