Poached pears with custard
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 6
- Dietary
- Nut-freeVegetarian
Poached pears are easy to make. The spices, brandy and wine make this a wonderful Christmas indulgence.
Ingredients
For the poached pears
- pears: 6 pears peeled and cored from the bottom
- red wine: 1 x 750ml bottle red wine
- brandy: 100ml/3陆fl oz brandy
- caster sugar: 70驳/2陆辞锄 caster sugar
- cinnamon: 1 cinnamon stick
- vanilla pods: 2 vanilla pods, split in half lengthways
- star anise: 2 star anise
- bay leaves: 2 bay leaves
- lemon: 陆 lemon, strips of zest only
- orange: 陆 orange, strips of zest only
For the custard
- milk: 400ml/14fl oz full-fat milk
- double cream: 400ml/14fl oz double cream
- vanilla pod: 1 vanilla pod, split in half lengthways
- egg yolks: 6 medium free-range egg yolks
- caster sugar: 100驳/3陆辞锄 caster sugar or vanilla sugar
- plain flour: 30g/1oz plain flour
- cornflour: 20驳/戮辞锄 cornflour
Method
For the poached pears, place the pears upright in a large saucepan. Cover with the wine, brandy, 500ml/18fl oz water and the sugar. Add the cinnamon, vanilla pods, the rest of the spices and the citrus zest.
Bring to the boil, stir the poaching liquor gently and skim off any residue from the surface. Cover with a cartouche (a circle of baking paper sat on the surface of the liquid) and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
Transfer the cooled pears to a deep dish and cover with half the liquid. Boil the rest of the liquid in the saucepan until the volume of liquid has reduced to a syrup. Strain and set aside.
For the custard, heat the milk, cream and vanilla in a heavy-based saucepan until almost boiling.
In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, flour and cornflour until white and smooth. Pour the warm milk mixture over the egg mixture and beat well until incorporated. Pour back into the saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring all the time. As soon as the custard has started to bubble, remove from the heat and remove the vanilla pods.
To serve, place a poached pear in each serving bowl. Pour the custard into the bottom of the bowls and glaze the pears with the poaching syrup.