Poached Pears with Toasted Walnuts & Gorgonzola Salad

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Method

This is more assemble than cooking which makes it very simple. It’s just what you need for a dinner party especially if your mind is more on romance and less on rocket!

Poach the pears in some red wine. The cooking liquor for the pears is really up to you. You can add a little sugar to taste, some star anise or cinnamon. In a restaurant I would always keep this liquor to be used a few times, it’s a shame to waste such fine ingredients. If you have space in your fridge keep this liquid for the next time you’re poaching fruit.

You’ll need to just make sure that the pears are covered for the poaching time. Cook them slowly for about 1 hour, on a simmer, I usually plonk a bowl in on top of the sauce pan to stop them bobbing up.Oh and of course, your pears will have been peeled.

Pears can also be poached in White Wine, with some sugar and perhaps some saffron for a bit of extra flavour and a beautiful golden colour. Great with a sabayon, flavoured with orange flower water! But that’s for another day.

Cool them in the liquor. Slice or serve whole with your leaves, crumbled gorgonzola and toasted salted walnuts.

You can use a bit of the liquor add a bit of port and some orange juice, reduce it till syrupy and use this as a dressing. Or you can just use some fab olive oil and good balsamic. (Take care when buying your balsamic, just because it says balsamic on the bottle, it doesn’t mean it’s good, you have to buy a good one otherwise it tastes like paint stripper.)

Poached pears are so useful either as starter or as desert. Try them with hot chocolate sauce and vanilla icecream.