I could layer cake and butter cream frosting clear up to the top of the Eiffel Tower and it would never look as impressive as a pear roasted in red wine syrup. I love fruit desserts. And this one in particular for being so easy and elegant.
Pear desserts can often be too sweet and that is where the red wine syrup adds a rich earthy acidic counterpoint. It also helps to caramelize the skin of the pear during baking giving it a stained glass look. This effect turns the fruit from a bottom heavy little squat bell to quite the stunning brightly faceted jewel – pear shaped diamonds are always on my holiday list.
As if homemade diamonds weren’t enough reason to make this dish, the practicality of it for entertaining is fabulous. There is no need to peel or core the pears and it can be made ahead of time and kept in a warm place. Simply put the pears in a baking dish, pour the red wine over, sprinkle sugar over pears and wine, bake and baste for 45 minutes. They can stay in a warm oven while dinner is being enjoyed and then served.
For recipe Click on “continue reading…”
Technorati Tags: baked, baked pears, pear, poire, dessert, recipe, roasted pears
Poires Rôties Avec Syrop de Vin Rouge
Serves 4 people (can be doubled)
Ingredients
4 firm-ripe medium sized Bosc pears or Bartlett
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
1/2 cup sugar
Optional: orange or lemon rind, 1/2 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 3-4 cloves, 1 bay leaf
Instructions
1. Trim the bottoms of the pears so they stand up straight. Put them upright in a shallow baking dish that fits the amount of pears used. Pour wine over pears then sprinkle with half the sugar. The sugar will stick to the pears coating it like snow. If adding spices, place them around the pears in the wine.
2. Bake in oven at 425˚F for 45 minutes. Baste pears with wine syrup and sprinkling with more sugar every fifteen minutes. This will give that stained glass look.
3. They are done when pears are tender and have a reddish brown stained glass appearance.
4. Serve pears whole with syrup poured over and a dollop of vanilla ice cream
Note: I have made this dish in a hurry before where I haven’t had the time to sprinkle the pears with sugar every fifteen minutes. If you’re pressed for time pour the wine over the pears and then sprinkle on all the sugar. Continue to baste with the wine syrup every fifteen minutes. They will still come out like stained glass just not quite as crackle-y.
Tips
1. This dish is easy to make while preparing dinner and can be kept in the oven (turned off, but still warm) until ready to serve for dessert.
2. I prefer Bosc pears because the skin crackles better and the flesh is a little firmer
These are SO…O…O…O good! I watched you make them, and it seemed so easy even I could do it.
Het
That looks SO good and seems so easy!
Top with a touch of ice cream or whipped cream (well maybe more than a touch) and you have ambrosia!
I’ve only recently discovered poached pears (and what have I been missing all this time?), and yours looks fantastic.
Beautiful pears – so delicious looking! I love your little side comment about pear-shaped diamonds too:)
This is so , so good, my favorite fruit dessert is just like this.
Simply delicious.
WHOA!!!!
… from a bottom heavy little squat bell to quite the stunning brightly faceted jewel !
YES!
I can totally relate! I want to be turned into a stunning brightly faceted jewel too! ! !
But really..I’ve poached pears and nuked them and they were yummy but nothing as delicious looking as this one!
CARMELIZED too…oh dear
AND no peeling or coring=is this really possible?
Must I use the finest Burgundy or Bordeaux
I must make this!
Astonishing post this time Ms.Pomme!
On way to Whole Foods now to buy pears!! Love these jewels. This is one Cartier who is drooling over YOUR diamonds! Fabulous. Thanks.
All best, Jan
Pear shaped and pretty, that’s what it’s all about! Bises, Ms. Glaze
Carol – Use CHEAP red wine. You need about about one whole cup. And yes, no peeling OR coring! Tout c’est simple!
Ms. Cartier – I walk by the Cartier store on the Champs almost everyday and drool. Still though, this recipe is about all I can afford right now 😉
I MADE EM!
Will report more on it tomorrow at PB. Although mine do not look as GORGEOUS as yours 🙁
I need practice and time spent suffering at an ecole de cuisine for that extra umph.
Still they taste plenty YUMMY!
And not hard really as long as you dont set the house on fire..
My smoke alarm assumed that was the case and began to shriek.
PSS
how ever did you get the pear so evenly coated with sugar?
With a spray gun?
Will you tell?
Mine went on spotty…
And then the dousings of wine syrup seemed miss important clumps of sugar.
Wait what? You set them on fire?!?! What happened Carol? I’ve made these twice this week with no probs. CAROL THIS RECIPE IS SUPPOSED TO BE EASY! I’m going to read your post tomrrow and see what happened. Gros Bisous, Ms. Glaze
A great idea! There is a lovely article on Guy Savoy in the December issue of Gourmet magazine… have you seen it?
Patty – Yes! I saw that article. I thought the writing was a little dry, but the content very interesting. I never knew that Guy Savoy had made an attempt in Connecticut long ago and I can’t wait to tease him about that. I do know that as French as he is, he loves American culture and I think he’s very excited about his Westward expansion. It was interesting to note how far American cooking and tastes have come in the last 20 years based on how he first found it (lack of ingredients and qualified cooks) so many years back.
I am not surprised that Americans dis not understand the subtley of french cuisine on his first attempt. We get the bistro dishses, but not the delicate layering of flavors that Guy Savoy is known for, so I can imagine his frist attempt long ago was unsuccessful. Not so today! The Las Vegas restaurant is doing great and we get a lot of American clients here in Paris. 😉
I made these for dinner last night and they were fantastic! So easy and beautiful and just right for a cold winter night. I had no star anise, so tried a few whole allspice and lemon zest. Lovely.
My sugar didn’t go on terribly evenly either. Is there a trick?
Barbara & Carol – I’m so glad the recipe worked out for you. And I love the addition of allspice and lemon zest! As for coating the pears evenly with sugar, I simply grabbed them by the stem and turned them while shaking a spoon of granulated sugar all around to coat. Make sure that the pears are fully dowsed with wine first or the sugar won’t stick! Then I cook the pears for 15 min (or until the first layer starts to bubble) dowse with wine again (from the pan), and repeat with with sugar. Mine aren’t always even either, but i think it adds to the effect when clumps of sugar carmelize on the pear. Hope this helps!?!?!
I used to boil the pears (water, sugar & red wine) and it worked too. However, this method makes the caramel too sticky, so the oven should be a good idea.
Um…I blew this completely after being so entranced by everybody else’s joy! The sugar slipped off the
pears remorselessly and in hindsight
I wonder if Aussie pears have a waxy coating to sabotage the best laid plans of cooks and chefs????
Sorry…and I thought I could cook!
Sue
Oh oh oh…I persevered…kept coating and sugaring and turned up the oven heat and now I understand your posts.
I have several spoons lying around the kitchen that resemble toffee apples and they taste sooo good.
Served the pears with cream and they were “oh my goodness rolling of the eyeball good.” LOL
Salut!
Oh oh oh…I persevered…kept coating and sugaring and turned up the oven heat and now I understand your posts.
I have several spoons lying around the kitchen that resemble toffee apples and they taste sooo good.
Served the pears with cream and they were “oh my goodness rolling of the eyeballs good.” LOL
Salut!
Sue! I’m glad it came out for you! I just was going to ask if you kept basting themm but it sounds like you did 😉
LOVE them! I’ve wanted to try something like this for ages, and your recipe is the simplest I’ve seen. The pears DO turn out so pretty and the wine carmelizes in the pan like magic!
Used my husband as “guinea pig”. So, when he liked this, I made them for company the next evening.
Clean-up was easy as I used a stoneware pan – just rinse off with HOT water.
We will definitely be doing this again!
Wow! I just made these beautiful pears this afternoon! Came out beautifully. Just uploaded the picture onto flickr.com.
Please take a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68136049@N00/?saved=1
Thanks for the great inspiration!
I love oven-baked apples and pears, but I never prepared them with their skin on. Reading all the positive feedback it simply has to taste good!
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