Hello hive friends.
I haven't shared a recipe post in a while. It's been an exhausting couple of months. I finally have a couple of weeks off. However it's so cold and miserable outside that I'm pretty much trapped indoors and feeling perpetual sadness for no particular reason. Lack of sun I suppose. At least with Hive, I can distract myself a little.
Speaking of sad. I saw some pears in the markdown bin the other day. They would never be adopted to a good home. I decided to take them in and give them a makeover. Everyone deserves a chance. Even a tray of ugly pears.
I wasn't sure if I could peel off the ugly or not. It worked. I'm glad I spent the 99 cents on the tray.
Using ripe pears for poaching felt risky. I wasn't sure if they would get mushy after cooking. I wanted to keep them in long enough to absorb the flavours of the liquid.
Poached pears should be a little firm but a little ripe. It's almost impossible to find pears these days that are ripe. I grew up in the Niagara fruit belt. Pear trees were everywhere. Now the produce is imported and picked green. For this reason I've lost my desire for fresh Canadian fruit.
In the case of these pears, they were ripe, but not something I desire to eat fresh.
Spiced poach pears
6 medium pears
2 decaffeinated Chai flavoured tea bags
1 plus 1/2 cup cane sugar
2 cups red wine
2 slices fresh ginger
4 whole cloves
1 black cardamom pod
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
I ran out of some whole spices. If I would have had green cardamom cinnamon sticks and star anise, I would have added that instead of the ground spice.
I added 2 cups of red wine, but in many cases the pears would be completely covered with wine. I used the wine for a little colour, but I was not willing to sacrifice more than two cups. I would rather drink it.
I covered the pears with water as the rest of the liquid.
The water came only to the top of the pears with some pears uncovered above. If you don't add wine to this, you can use dried hibiscus flowers for colour.
I don't have a super sweet tooth. If I did, there would be double the sugar added. It was sweet enough with the amount of sugar I added. Normally I use agave nectar, but I wanted to make a syrup out of the liquid at the end.
I added 1 cup of the sugar and set 1/2 cup aside.
There are many variations of poached pears with different ingredients. I wanted a warm spiced taste for this one. Of course I don't have some ingredients right now. It's too cold to run to the stores. I randomly chose want I had.
We live across the street from the wine store. This was an easy ingredient to have. The tea bags have been in my cupboard for months.
I brought them to a boil then simmered for around 30 minutes. I let them sit in the liquid for a while longer. I was afraid that they would overcook, but they were perfectly tender and cooked through.
I decided to use some vegan cream cheese to make a sweet citrus cream to add to the pears. Initially I was going to use this for something savoury, but on a whim, I chose to accompany the pears with cream for extra decadence. Not something I do often but I am indulging a bit.
I could have used cashews for a less decadent version, but the consistency of the store bought cream was tempting. Not to mention the convenience.
Sweet citrus cream
270 g vegan cream cheese
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
One of my favourite purchases is the microplane zester.
I didn't feel like cleaning the blender so I used a whisk to mix the ingredients together.
At the end I added the reserved sugar to the rest of the liquid after the pears were removed.
I boiled then simmered the liquid until it was thicker like a syrup.
The syrup was drizzled on the pears.
There were walnuts in my cupboard so a few of those were sprinkled on. Pistachios would have also been nice but I didn't have any.
Over all this was not overly sweet but sweet enough for my taste.
This was our once in a while indulgence. It is a simple and easy desert that can vary and please almost anyone.
Thanks for dropping by and have a great day
