Poached Pears with Nutmeg Spiced Chantilly Cream

By Angela Patel

There are plenty of varieties of pears around this time of year and this is a great recipe to use up a glut of them. All you do is pop them in the slow cooker with a bottle of red wine, a little sugar and let them slowly bubble away until tender. Serve warm or cold with a dollop of sweetened and spiced whipped cream - it’s the prefect autumnal pud.

Kitchen tools needed:

Cole & Mason Nutmeg Grinding Mill

September 2024

Prep: 10 mins, plus cooling

Cook: approx 4 hrs

Difficulty Easy

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 x 75cl bottle red wine (see tips)

140g caster sugar

few pared strips orange rind

juice of 1 orange

1 cinnamon stick

6 firm pears, peeled but with stalks left on (see tips)

For the chantilly cream

250ml double cream

2 tbsp icing sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg, ground in the Cole & Mason nutmeg grinder

Method

Pour the wine into the slow cooker. Stir in the sugar, strips of orange rind, juice and the cinnamon stick. Add the pears, laying them on their sides and turn the slow cooker onto low setting.

Cover and cook for 3-31/2 hours until the pears are very tender. Turn the pears a couple of times in the liquid so they cook evenly.

Remove the pears from the slow cooker pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a shallow heatproof serving dish.

Strain the poaching liquid into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for 15-20 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about two-thirds to a thickened syrup. Cool for 10 minutes then pour the syrup over the pears.

To make the Chantilly cream, pour the cream into a bowl, whisk in the icing sugar and vanilla extract and continue whisking until just softly peaking. Spoon into a small serving bowl and sprinkle with the ground nutmeg.

 6. Serve the pears warm or cold with the cream and sprinkled with a little more freshly ground nutmeg, if liked.

TIPS

Choose a full bodied red wine such as Shiraz, Pinot Noir or Merlot. This recipe will work just as well using a bottle of white wine or replace the wine with 750ml cranberry or pomegranate juice.

Cut a small slice off the bottom of the peeled pears before poaching so they will stand upright when you serve them.

 To serve cold, allow the pears in the syrup to cool completely. Then cover and chill in the fridge for up to 2 days.