It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a recipe. Life’s been throwing a bunch of busy-fying things my way (good things!), and I’ve fallen behind on the blogging front. I’ll tell you more about it soon, but in the meantime I hope you’ll bear with me as I try to reconfigure my juggling strategy. 😉
Anyway, wine poached pears! The first time I encountered wine poached pears was in dessert form. I never put any thought into different applications for it until earlier this year when I encountered wine poached pears in a savory hors d’oeuvre at The Village Pub. Mind blown. I knew I had to do my own take on it.
I love the mix of savory and sweet that I ended up with. The pears are poached in red wine with a bit of clove, giving them a hint of mulled wine flavor. No added sugar, of course, because the pears themselves are plenty sweet enough for this application.
Next came the hand to mouth delivery vehicle – endive. Fresh and crunchy with just a hint of bitterness to counter the sweet pears.
And finally, the cheese. I experimented with different kinds and finally settled on herbed goat cheese (chevre) as my favorite. The herbs played well with the mulled wine-like pears while the chevre helped anchor the savory aspect of the dish. Such a winning combo. If you can’t get your hands on herbed chevre, go for the plain stuff and top with your favorite fresh herbs.
Wine Poached Pears with Goat Cheese and Endive
Prep time 10 mins
Cook time 15 mins
Total time 25 mins
Author: Joy @ The Joyful Foodie
Serves: serves 6-8
Ingredients
- 1 cup red wine
- 2-4 bay leaves
- 8-10 whole cloves
- 3 pears
- ¼ lb soft goat cheese
- 2 small heads of endive
Instructions
- Peel and dice pears.
- Place pears, wine, bay leaves and cloves in a small saucepan over medium high heat and bring to a boil.
- Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Cut the bottom off the endive heads and separate the leaves.
- Spoon a couple teaspoons of pears into each leaf and top with goat cheese.
Have you ever had wine poached pears in a savory dish?
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