No fancy banners this week, just the very gorgeous Red Wine Poached Pears with Orange syrup and Coconut Cream.
For the Healthy Plant Based Cooking Challenge I chose to use pears and orange as my 2 ingredients from the sweet options listed in the challenge post. Thank you to 
Here’s how I made it:
POACHED PEARS
3 cups red wine
3/4 cup sugar
2 whole star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
1 split vanilla bean or 1 tspn Vanilla essence
6 small pears or 4 medium pears
RED WINE & ORANGE SYRUP
½ cup sugar
The rest of the reduced wine from pears
Half orange juice squeezed
EXTRAS
Coconut cream to serve
METHOD
Place the wine, sugar, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla in a medium sized pot and bring the mixture to the boil.
Peal the pears leaving the storks attached.
Once brought to the boil, lower the heat of the liquid and add the pears.
Boil on medium heat for 45mins to an hour depending on how firm your pears are. They should become soft but hold their shape. My pears were quite small and firm and were ready in 40 minutes.
Once the pears are cooked remove them from the pot and use the rest of the liquid to make the orange syrup.
In the same pot add more sugar and squeeze half a fresh orange juice into the boiled wine.
Boil on medium to high heat until it becomes sticky and syrupy. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Pour the syrup into a small serving jug.
Serve the pears with a dollop of Coconut cream and a drizzle of Orange syrup for a gorgeous plant based dessert. No one said we couldn’t use wine!!! 🍷
The alternative serving suggestion is mascarpone cheese swirled over the hot pears. It’s all just too yummy.