Poached Pears

This is another recipe I borrowed from Caroline over at The Wanna be Country Girl, who in turn got it from David Leibovitz, one of my favourite chefs.  I may have borrowed a few of his recipes myself on a few occasions.

Fall is the time for apples and pears, and delicate pears lend themselves well to a gentle poaching. So cut up 4 firm, ripe pears.  These are Bartletts, I think — I got them at Costco.  They could be Anjou. There was a big pile and they were all messed around, and I’m not that good at fruit identification. Quarter, core, and peel the pear pieces and plop them in a large saucepan.

Slide in 1 sliced lemon, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar. Pour 1 quart (1 litre) water over the fruit.

Cut a square of parchment paper, fold it into quarters, and cut a hole from the centre.

So when it’s unfolded you have a hole in the middle.  This will let the steam out.

Tuck the parchment paper into the saucepan and bring the fruit to a simmer for 25 minutes.

Then I removed the fruit to cool slightly and turned up the heat on the remaining liquid to reduce it to a syrup.

As we had clafoutis for dessert that night, we let the pears cool and had them for breakfast the next day, with their own syrup and a daub of whipped cream.

Amazing on top of pancakes!  Try the pears in sandwiches and salads, too.

Advertisement

Pineapple Corer – A perfect gift

I know what you’re thinking.  A pineapple corer is some elaborate gadget that you don’t really need.

I was like you.  Then my mother-in-law, knowing my obsession with fresh fruit (seriously, offer me a plate of cut fruit and a plate of chocolate and I’ll take the fruit every time and eat myself sick), gave me one for Christmas a few years ago.

HOLY SMOKES.  This is the best thing ever.

Normally when cutting a pineapple you slice off the outer skin, then you either cut the fruit away from the core or you manhandle your way into cutting through the core and you cut it away after.  This little gadget does away with the core all together.

Pick a nice large one with lots of leaves.  You can smell a good one by sniffing its bottom.  If it smells nice and fruity then it’s good.  You can leave less aromatic ones to ripen on the counter for a few days.  And in my experience, a wee bit of mould at the bottom is okay.

Simply cut off the top and bottom of your pineapple and set it in a pan to catch the juice.  You can leave the bottom on if you want to use the shell for something decorative but it’s a neater job if you cut it off.

Put the corer on top and start twisting it like a corkscrew.  The jagged teeth will bite in a circle around the core.

You can see the pineapple fruit start to feed itself through the little hole as you twist it further and further into the fruit.

The juice will start to bubble up around your cuts.  This is why you have the pan.

Keep twisting until you break through the bottom.

Lift the corer out of the pineapple shell.  It’ll make a lot of revolting sucking sounds.  It’s great.

The fruit has been cored and already sliced in a nice spiral for you.

You can just pop the handle off the corer.

Tip the corer upside down to get your spiral off.

Push the core out with your thumbs into the compost.  And you can drink all the juice you produced.

GENIUS.