My big 'family' celebration was last night. My older stepbrother had returned home from a multi-month-long trip around South America early (as in, 1am), so our happily blended family was all present for, I believe, our first Christmas together. Since my stepfather is ethnically Jewish and my mother and I aren't really all that Christian, our Christmas celebration was much more about family than Jesus. Personally, that's just fine with me. We had a very large, wonderful meal, a wonderful desert, and opened presents. I made half of the desert, and as a holiday treat, I'm going to include my (mostly made up, partly adapted from a bajillian sources) recipe for you.
Our menu:
Wilted spinach salad with canadian bacon, shallots, and a reduced balsamic vinaigrette
Roast beef tenderloin
Tomato Maidera Coulis
Roasted fingerling potatoes
Broiled tomatoes stuffed with breadcrumbs and herbs
And, for desert:
Chocolate soufflé and chai poached pairs with cream sauce
Now, for the recipe!
Chai Poached Pears with Cream Sauce
serves 6 (or as many as you please)
For the pears:serves 6 (or as many as you please)
- 6 pears, preferably Bosc
- either 1 teabag or 1.5 tsp looseleaf Chai per pear (so, in this case, 6 teabags, or 3Tbsps chai)
- 1/4 cup sugar or less per pear (so, in this case, 1 1/2 cups sugar)
- 1 cup water per pear (so, in this case, 6 cups water)
- Peel the pears. You may core them if you really want, but the desert is most attractive when you do not core them and when you leave the stem in.
- Bring water to a boil.
- Once water is boiling, steep teabags for 5 minutes. If using looseleaf tea, use a paper tea filter or some other contraption to allow you to remove the leaves once done steeping. After 5 minutes, remove tea.
- Add sugar and bring to a low boil.
- Once mixture is boiling, add pears. Reduce temperature to 'low' or such that pears can simmer.
- Let pears cook at least 20 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure liquid does not completely boil down, and when checking, roll pears over on their sides.
- Remove 2 cups of poaching liquid, and, in a separate saucepan, reduce. You may use this, reduced, as a sauce if you do not want to make the cream sauce. It will still be delicious.
For the cream sauce:
- 1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
- 1 or 2 oranges worth of zest, reserve some
- 5 slices of candied ginger
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 cups reserved poaching liquid
- Mince candied ginger.
- Combine ginger, honey, first portion of zest, and cream. Heat on the stove until honey is melted. Do not let cream boil.
- Simultaneously, cook poaching liquid to a boil and let it reduce.
- Once poaching liquid is reduced enough for your taste, lower the heat, and pour the poaching liquid into the cream mixture, stirring constantly.
That's it! The pears are a very delicious and simple desert by themselves, but the cream sauce makes them a little more fancy for special occasions. As a big chai drinker I tend to have many different kinds lying around, and if you are able to choose, I'd recommend a chai with a hearty dose of cardamom and pepper. (If your family is adventurous, or loves heat the way mine does, the pears also are delicious with a grinding of black pepper.) Enjoy!
1 comment:
i want to make this.
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