There’s something profoundly satisfying about the plump curves of a pear, whether ripe and juicy from the tree or poached, the cool, smooth full stop to an autumnal dinner. They’re light enough to follow a pie or stew, but robust enough to feel like a proper pudding. With any number of permutations to suit your mood, it’s surely the perfect seasonal dessert.
Prep 25 min
Cook 45 min
Chill 30 min + (optional)
Serves 4
4 squat, hard pears – comice or williams, for example
Pick a poaching style
For wine-poached pears
750ml soft, fruity red or white wine
2 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 vanilla pod, split (optional)
1 lemon, and 1 strip lemon zest
125g granulated sugar
For spiced honey pears
200ml honey
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 lemon
For earl grey pears
2 tbsp earl grey tea
75g sugar
1 lemon
Pick a dairy topping
For the chocolate cream
250g dark chocolate
600ml whipping cream
50g caster sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Salt
For the cardamom yoghurt
250ml Greek yoghurt
5 cardamom pods
2 tbsp honey (or 1 tbsp icing sugar)
For the lemon and vanilla mascarpone
200g mascarpone
1 vanilla pod
1 unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp honey (or 1 tbsp icing sugar)
1 The hard truth
Although you can poach any (edible) pear, slightly underripe fruit gives the best results – softer fruit has a tendency to disintegrate in the pan. One of the smoother, fatter varieties, such as comice or williams, is preferable to the skinny, rough-textured conference. Peel and core the pears, but leave the stalks on to make them easier to manoeuvre (it looks much prettier, too).
2 Oven or stovetop?
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Poaching the pears in the oven is much easier and less fiddly than doing it on the stovetop, where it can be hard to keep the temperature constant.
3 Pick a poaching medium
For wine-poached pears, put the wine in a pan with the spices, lemon zest and sugar, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
For spiced honey pears, put everything in a pan with 750ml water and bring to a boil, stirring to melt the honey.
For the earl grey version, steep the tea in 750ml boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain into a pan with the sugar and a strip of zest, and bring to a boil.
4 Add the fruit
Lay the pears in an ovenproof dish into which they fit snugly and pour over your chosen poaching liquid (they should be almost submerged). Cover with a lid or foil, then bake for 45 minutes, turning once. Now check on them: they’re done when just tender to the point of a knife, but still holding their shape.
5 Reduce the liquid
Setting the pears aside, pour the poaching liquid back into the saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer until thickened, syrupy and reduced by half. Taste and add a dash of lemon juice, if needed, then pour back over the pears. You can now serve them warm, but I like them chilled.
6 Now decide on a dairy topping:
Chocolate cream
If you’d like to serve your pears with chocolate cream, chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt in the microwave or in a heatproof pan set over a pan of simmering water (do not allow the base of the bowl to touch the water). Stir until melted, then leave to cool to room temperature, stirring regularly so it doesn’t set.
When the chocolate is cool, pour the cream into a large bowl and whisk to soft peaks, then add the sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt, and continue whisking until it holds stiff peaks. Now, working very quickly so it doesn’t have time to solidify, fold in the cooled chocolate until evenly mixed. Cover and leave at cool room temperature. Serve alongside the pears.
7 Or cardamom yoghurt?
To make the cardamom yoghurt instead, crush the cardamom pods, remove the seeds and discard the husks. Grind the seeds to a powder in a mortar, then whisk into the yoghurt with the honey. Taste, and add more cardamom or honey if you think it needs it. Hand round with the pears.
8 Or lemon and vanilla mascarpone?
For the vanilla and lemon zest mascarpone, put the cheese in a bowl. Slit the vanilla pod down its centre and scrape the seeds into the bowl. Zest the lemon on top, then add the honey. Whisk until evenly distributed, then taste and add more honey, if necessary. Serve in quenelles with the pears.
