This was a fun recipe to do. I'd never poached pears before. They were still a little firm at the end of the poaching time. I think I probably should've cooked them for a bit longer. But they were still very tasty. And the syrup that went with them was amazing!

Poached Pears with Prunes

Slightly adapted from The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2L water
• 1 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 navel orange¹, sliced 5-6mm thick
• 1 (7-8cm) cinnamon stick
• 1 clove
• 1 bay leaf²
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 4-6 Bartlett or Bosc pears³
• 12 pitted prunes
• semolina almond cookies, to serve

Directions

1. Combine the water, sugar, orange slices, cinnamon stick, clove, bay leaf, and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Remove the core from the bottom end of one of the pears.⁴
4. Peel the pear, but leave the stem on.
5. Add the pear to the pot with the sugar-water/syrup and repeat the process with the remaining pears.
6. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
7. Add the prunes and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
9. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pears, prunes, and orange slices to a bowl.
10. Boil the poaching liquid over medium-high heat for 15-20 minutes.
11. Pour the syrup over the pears.
12. Pears may be covered and refrigerated for up to four days.
13. When ready to eat, return to room temperature and serve with semolina almond cookies on the side.

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¹ The original recipe calls for only 1/2 an orange, but I really liked the orange in it, so I've upped it to a whole orange. I ended up using a blood orange rather than a navel orange for mine, but it doesn't seem to have suffered any from the swap. ^Back
2 I opted to swap in an "Indian bay leaf" here. I believe they are actually cassia leaves, so they are a bit like a cross between bay laurel and cinnamon. I figured that, given there was already cinnamon in the recipe, the cinnamon notes of the Indian bay leaf would go nicely. I think either one works fine, so just use whichever you have/prefer. ^Back
3 I used four large Bartlett pears for my rendition of this dish. Given that they were quite large, I think I probably should've added 5 or 10 minutes to the poaching time. They were still pretty firm and a bit tricky to eat. ^Back
4 Wolfert says to do this with an apple corer or a long knife. I tried it with a knife and didn't have much luck. TF looked up instructions online and found a lot of advice saying to use a melon baller or a spoon. I had much better luck once I switched to a spoon. (I think I melon baller would've been even better, but I don't have one of those.) ^Back