Honey & Ginger Poached Pears

This is a delicious recipe, ideal for entertaining. It takes very little preparation, then you just leave it to cool for a few hours. Which means you can make it before hand and concentrate on your main course on the day.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

* 4 ripe pears
* 2 tablespoons runny honey
* ½ inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
* 1 lemon - juice and grated zest
* 1 orange - juice and grated zest
* 250ml water
* 50g sugar

Method

1. Peel the pears. Cut them into halves and remove the core and stalk. (Or you can leave them whole, if you prefer).


2. Put the water, honey, ginger, orange and lemon in a wide pan (a deep frying pan is ideal) and simmer gently, to melt the honey.


3. Add the pears in an even layer and add more water to cover them, if needed.

4. Cover the pan and simmer gently for 20 minutes to poach the pears. Check occasionally to make sure the liquid isn't running dry and the pears aren't sticking.

5. Remove the pears from the pan and arrange on their serving plates or in a temporary wide, shallow dish.

6. Add the sugar to the juices in the pan and boil rapidly until the juices have thickened into a syrup. Pour this over the pears and leave to cool for about 4 hours, or overnight.

7. Just before serving, spoon the syrup over the pears again.


Time From Cupboard-To-Table

20 minutes preparation plus cooling time

Notes & Variations

Experiment with different spices, such as cinnamon.

For an alcoholic version, you could add 2 tablespoons of rum or brandy (or a tipple of your choosing!) at the end of making the syrup. Maybe mulled wine during the festive season.