Oven Poached Pears With Lemon Honey And Nutmeg Recipes

BAKED PEARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Place pear halves, cut side up, in a shallow 1-qt. baking dish. Place butter in the center of each; drizzle with lemon juice. , Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over pears. Top with marmalade. Bake, covered, until heated through, 15-20 minutes.

LEMON GRASS SPICED POACHED PEARS

Steps:

• Slice the pears in half. Coat with lemon juice to prevent browning.
• In a saucepot, add the sugar and water and bring to a boil to make a syrup. Reduce to a simmer and add the pear halves, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, and lemon grass. Continue to cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until pears are tender, but not falling apart.

OVEN-POACHED PEARS WITH LEMON, HONEY AND NUTMEG

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F. Place large baking sheet in oven to heat. Cut 4 sheets of foil, each about 12 inches long. Place 1 foil sheet on work surface. Arrange 6 pear wedges, overlapping slightly, on 1 half of foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon honey. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon currants, 1/4 teaspoon lemon peel and pinch of nutmeg. Fold foil over, enclosing contents completely and crimping edges tightly to seal. Repeat with remaining foil sheets, pears, honey, currants, lemon peel and nutmeg.
• Place foil packets on heated baking sheet. Bake until pears are tender, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
• Open foil packets into 4 shallow bowls to retain juices. Top each serving with 3 tablespoons vanilla yogurt.

POACHED PEARS WITH HONEY, LEMON BALM AND RAISINS

Steps:

• To prepare pears, place 6 cups of the cold water in a bowl. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon into the bowl and add the lemon too. Core the pears from the bottom and peel, leaving the stems intact. As you peel each pear, place it in the bowl to prevent it from discoloring. Also place the cores and small pieces in the bowl. After the pears are peeled, wrap the cores and small pieces in the cheesecloth, folded double, and tie tightly with string. Place the remaining 7 cups of cold water and the honey in a pot and stir to dissolve the honey. Add the tangerine peel, raisins, lemon balm and cheesecloth bundle, together with the pears. Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and poach the pears at a low boil for 1 1/2 hours, leaving the lid ajar. Touch the pears with the tip of a chopstick. A properly poached pear should give a little; the pears should be soft and have taken on a light beige color. Turn off the heat. Remove the lemon balm, tangerine peel, and cheesecloth bundle from the pot and discard. Transfer each pear to an individual soup plate, sitting it upright, stem up. Divide the sweet soup equally among the plates. There should be about 4 1/2 cups of soup. Divide the raisins equally as well. Garnish each pear by inserting a sprig of mint into it at the stem and serve.

OVEN-POACHED PEARS WITH RED WINE

Steps:

• Combine the wine, water, sugar, cinnamon stick, cloves and lemon slices in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture is reduced to approximately 4 cups liquid. Set aside until ready to use.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel the pears but leave the stems on. Place the pears upright in a baking dish just large enough to hold them comfortably. Bring the wine mixture to a boil again and pour it over the pears (it will not cover them completely). Bake for 1 hour, basting every 15 minutes. The pears should darken to a rich mahogany color as they cook.
• When the pears are done (still firm but easily pierced with a fork), remove them from the oven. The liquid in the baking dish should be syr-upy. If it is not, transfer it to a saucepan and cook on the stove over a high heat until there are approximately 2 cups of syrup.
• Place the pears in compote or similar dishes and cover with syrup. The pears may be served with a ricotta cream sauce (see following recipe).