How to Poach Pears in Italian Red Wine (While Throwing Chocolate into the Mix)

There are so many amazing fruits out there that pears often get left behind in many people’s thoughts.

It’s understandable. Pears have a somewhat mellow taste, which means that they’re a little less exciting than the more popular fruits out there. You don’t get the same zing from a pear that you might from an apple or orange.

But that doesn’t mean that they’re any less tasty. Pears more subtle flavoursare great for balancing out a fruit salad. And they make for an ideal dessert after you’ve enjoyed an especially rich meal.

And that’s without even mentioning the many health benefits. Pears are absolutely loaded with fibre, which makes them a valuable addition to any diet. With so many people struggling to get as much fibreas they need, pears may prove to be the solution.

That’s all well and good.

But you’re probably wondering what all of this has to do with Italian wine.

Here’s the thing. We know that a lot of you are nodding along and agreeing with what we’re saying about pears here. But the next time you go to the supermarket, you’ll forget all about those plump and juicy pears.

That’s why we want to jazz the fruit up a little bit.

Here, we’re going to share a recipe that allows you to combine your pears with those two global favourites– chocolate and Italian red wine.

By following this recipe, which comes directlyfrom All Recipes, you’ll end up with a perfectly poached pear that’s loaded with chocolate.

I’m guessing we’ve caught your attention now. Let’s jump right into what you have to do to make this dish a reality.

The Ingredients

You may think that loading pears with Italian red wine and chocolate would make them super unhealthy.

But you’d be wrong. The pears you make using this recipe contain just 400 calories. And after 40 minutes of work, you’ll have four servings ready to go.

Here’s what you need to make it happen.

• At least four pears, which you need to peel. You can use more if you want to add a pear garnish to the main dish.
• A single cup of water.
• Two teaspoons of ground cinnamon.
• One and a half cups of the Italian red wine of your choice. The fruitier the better, but you may wish to experiment with different wines to find which works best for you.
• Two-thirds of a cup of white granulated sugar.
• Two tablespoons of lemon juice.
• 11 ounces of the chocolate sauce of your choice. Again, you can experiment with dark and white chocolate here, with the former being especially good if you want to add some complexity to the dish.
• A star anise pod. This isn’t essential to the dessert, but it can add a little something extra to it.

The Method

While it takesa little while to prepare this dish, the steps themselves aren’t especially difficult to follow.

Just do the following to give yourself a tasty red wine poached pear that’s just dripping with chocolate

Step 1

Slice the bottoms of each of your pears so that they’re able to stand upright unsupported.

Step 2

Core each of your pears from the bottom upwards. This should leave a healthy gap in which you’ll be able to insert your chocolate later on.

Step 3

Grab a large saucepan and pour in your wine and water. Add to that your sugar, lemon juice, star anise, and cinnamon and give the mixture a little stir.

Pop the saucepan over a high flame and bring the mixture to the boil. Then lower the temperature.

Step 4

Place your pears around the edges of the saucepan so that they’re lying on their sides.

Allow them to simmer in the liquid for between 10 and 12 minutes.

Step 5

Turn the pears so that they can simmer on the other side. Continue simmering for between 8 and 10 minutes. The pears should become very tender and easily pokable with a fork.

If you don’t have a large saucepan, don’t worry. You can poach the pears in batches if need be. Just have some extra ingredients on hand so you can top up your mixture if it starts to dissolve too much.

Step 6

Remove the pears from the saucepan while taking care to leave the wine mixture in the pan. That means no using a colander to catch the pears.

Place each pear on a serving dish so that it’s standing upright.

Step 7

Allow the pears to cool while you continue boiling your wine mixture. Do this for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until you have about three-quarters of a cup of the mixture left over.

Step 8

Fill each of the pear’s cavities with your chocolate sauce.

Then, grab your three-quarter cup of wine mixture and pour a little over each pear.

Serve separately. You can also surround the main pearwith individual slices of pear to add a little extra to the dish.

Voila. You have a tasty dish that adds a little flair to your pears. Plus, you’re still getting a good portion of the fibrefrom the fruit, especially if you use pear slices to garnish.

The Best Wine Selection

This is a bit of a difficult choice as you’re working with a lot of contrasting flavourshere.

The lightness of the pear would usually mean an Italian white wine is the best choice. However, you’ve added chocolate and Italian red wine into the mix. That means the pear has a much richer taste that it would normally have.

A good Shiraz may do the trick here, and we have a few Australian varieties for you to try out.

But any red that offers some fruit notes should do the trick here.

As always, the best wine and food combination is the one that works best for you. Much also depends on the type of chocolate and wine that you use when creating the dish.

Experiment a little and we’re sure you’ll find something amazing.