Chai Spiced Poached Pears

It was time to make poached pears again. This time I didn't have any red wine to spare (we drank it all), so I poached them in a simple syrup. To make it a bit more interesting, I decided to use some spices, but I wanted a theme, so I decided on chai spice (I guess I was in an Indian kind of mood).

To start, make your simple syrup. Put 7 oz sugar and 2 cups water in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once at a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer, add your spices and prep your pears.

The spices I used were: a slice of fresh ginger, a few cardamom seeds, a small piece of cinnamon stick, 2 or 3 cloves, a few black peppercorns and a pinch of fennel seeds.

I poached 2 Bartlett pears, but you can use any type of pear, and as many as you like, although the more you want to poach, the more syrup you'll need to cover them. Peel the pears, cut in half and remove cores, stem and tail. Once prepped thusly, put the pears in the simmering syrup, return to a simmer and cook until tender (a knife slides into the pear easily). Remove from the heat and cool in the syrup.

To serve, remove the pear halves from the syrup and enjoy with vanilla bean ice cream. The syrup can be saved and used again to poach more pears, as a base for sorbet, or even as a base for lemonade. Alternatively, you can strain out the spices and boil it down until thick and serve it with the pears.

Metric Info: 7 oz = 200g; 2 cups = 470 ml.

For red wine poached pears, click here.