Spanish Poached Pears Recipes

EASY POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine lemon zest, cinnamon stick, allspice, ground pepper, apple cider, and water.
• Add pears. Cover with waxed paper to prevent discoloring. Bring to a simmer. Cook, turning pears occasionally, until easily pierced with the tip of a paring knife, but not falling apart, about 20 minutes. Remove pears from liquid; transfer to large bowl.
• Raise heat to high; boil cider mixture until reduced to a syrup, about 15 minutes. Discard cinnamon. Pour syrup over pears; refrigerate. To serve, slice off a sliver from the bottom of each pear (so it stands upright). Serve pears with lemon sorbet, if desired.

SPANISH POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Place the pears in boiling water for 2 - 3 minutes then remove from the water and place under the cold tap.
• When the pears are cooled enough to handle, remove the peel, then cut in half.
• Using an apple corer, remove the center, and pare the stem away.
• Meanwhile put the sugar, wine, water and cinnamon stick in a pan over a medium heat when it starts to boil.
• Stir in vanilla extract, then add the pears and simmer slowly until the pears become soft.
• When the pears have softened remove them from the liquid and place them in a glass bowl.
• Leave the liquid simmering a bit longer until it reduces then pour over the pears.
• Can be served warm or chilled.

VANILLA POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Place the white wine, water, sugar and vanilla bean and pulp into a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
• Core the pears from the bottom. Decrease the heat to medium low and place the pears into the liquid, cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender but not falling apart. Maintain a gentle simmer. Remove the pears to a serving dish, standing them upright, and place in the refrigerator.
• Remove the vanilla bean from the saucepan, increase the heat to high and reduce the syrup to approximately 1 cup of liquid, approximately 20 to 25 minutes. Do not allow the syrup to turn brown. Place the syrup in a heatproof container and place in the refrigerator until cool, approximately 1 hour.
• Remove the pears from the refrigerator, spoon the sauce over the pears and serve.

POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Combine all except pears in saucepan. Boil till sugar is dissolved then add pears.
• Cover and cook 8-10 minutes turning occasionally.
• When pears are barely tender remove from syrup and put in individual serving bowls.
• Boil remaining syrup rapidly uncovered until reduced to 1 cup. Pour over pears.
• Let cool before serving or serve chilled.

SPANISH POACHED COD

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in large (10-12") skillet (with lid, you'll need that later) over medium heat. When hot, add peppers and onions and saute, stirring frequently, till softened, about 7 minutes.
• Sprinkle onions and peppers with paprika and saute another minute, then add tomatoes and cauliflower florets. Cook, stirring frequently, for a few minutes, till tomatoes mush up. Add wine and stir till well combined. Taste and season with salt to taste.
• Bring mixture to a healthy simmer, then nestle cod fillets into sauce (push cauliflower out of the way as needed, sauce should come about halfway up sides of the fillets). Cover and cook till fish flakes easily with a fork (15-20 minutes is a good estimate, but really it depends on how thick your fillets are).
• When fish is cooked, remove fillets from pan carefully (so they don't break) and set aside--keep warm.
• Turn heat up to medium high and reduce sauce and vegetables to a thick salsa-ish consistency.
• Plate fish and spoon sauce over the top. Excellent served with brown saffron rice.