Poached pears with orange and cinnamon
Tomorrow, Easter Monday, my friends Gilly and Keith are coming to lunch and as Gilly has to avoid sugar for health reasons, I wanted to come up with an extra-special sugar-free dessert. Poaching pears in freshly squeezed orange juice was a bit of a revelation - most recipes tell you to add sugar when you do this, but after a bit of experimenting I found that there was no need to. The ginger and cinnamon-infused orange sauce you're left with after cooking the pears in my recipe is wonderful just as it is (if I do say so myself!), but if you take the pears out of the pan and then boil the sauce down to a syrup, it takes on a whole new, lick-the-plate-clean dimension... (Hope you like the sound of it, Gilly! See you tomorrow.)
Peel four ripe pears, slice them in half lengthways and remove the cores with a teaspoon but leave the stalks attached (it looks nicer on the plate when you serve them). Squeeze 5 oranges plus half a lemon and pour over the pear halves. Add a peeled, 1-inch piece of fresh root ginger and two cinnamon sticks and bring gently to a simmer. Simmer for 8-10 minutes (depending on how ripe the pears are), then gently turn over and simmer for another 5 mins. Lift the pears out of the pan and bring the sauce to a fast boil. Boil until it just starts to turn syrupy - you'll see it suddenly change consistency, so watch it all the time and remove it from the heat at that moment.
Meanwhile, toast some flaked almonds in a dry frying pan until just browning (watch them carefully as they can go from pale to burnt in the blink of an eye.) Serve the pears with the sauce poured over, a spoonful of creme fraiche topped with the flaked almonds, and a sprig of mint. Serves 4
COOKS' PLOT TIP: You can cook the pears about an hour before everyone arrives and then set them aside until it's dessert time. Make sure they're completely covered by the liquid though, or they may start to go a bit brown at the edges (and don't cook them any further ahead than this, for the same reason). Then when you're ready to serve them, take them out of the liquid and arrange on plates, put the liquid in a wide-bottomed pan and reduce it down until you see it change to a syrupy consistency - take it straight off the heat and serve it at this point or it will become too thick. Hope you enjoy them!
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Sounds delicious Sarah, looking forward to lunch – and pudding!
ReplyDeleteHeavenly sugar free dessert Sarah. The subtle hint of the ginger and cinnamon in the infused orange sauce was delicious. The crunch of the flaked almonds with the creme fraiche really complimented the pear too. I'll be making this one at home!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Really glad you liked it
DeleteI have just made this, Sarah, and we both loved it! Can't believe no sugar was involved. Bravo! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Julia. Lovely to know it's been made on the other side of the world!
DeleteYes, and last night I passed it on to one of our friends in Whangarei, north of Auckland, and he's going to make it for a guest he's expecting this week.
DeleteFantastic!
DeleteThis is a delicious and impressive dessert, Sarah. I made it for a group of friends who are used to my post takeaway, easy to assemble ice cream and fruit concoctions! But one of them has recently been diagnosed with late onset diabetes so I was stuck. Along came your recipe. It was warmly welcomed, together with comments of the “we didn’t know you were such a good cook” variety. Thanks! Terrific blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Gaynor. That’s so good to hear!
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