We had pears poached in white wine last week. And from there I moved onto poached plums, which were meant to get a red wine bath. (Although my poaching liquid was a bit of a franken-mix of red and white, but... close enough!) Well, after that, I still had a bunch of poaching liquid left over. And I hated to throw it out. So I picked out another wine-poached fruit recipe.

Honestly, I'd been hoping to do poached apricots next. They required a very similar poaching liquid, but with the addition of a small amount of rosewater. My intent had been to do the apricots and then, with the leftover liquid from that make these poached pears. But I couldn't find any fresh apricots (or nectarines) at the grocery store. So I skipped over that recipe for now and moved straight to the red wine pears.

As written, the recipe called for four Bosc pears poached in sweetened, spiced red wine. It used 3/4 c. of sugar to 750mL of wine + some cloves, cinnamon, and lemon zest. Since I already had a light syrup of a mix of red and white wine, cloves, cinnamon, lemon zest, star anise, peppercorns, vanilla, and ginger; I just reused it completely unaltered. And, since my pears were quite small, I tossed a few extras in. I managed to fit seven small pears into the pot with the poaching liquid.

Once I started boiling the syrup down, I gave it a taste and decided that it was slightly undersweetened for my liking. (I'm really not sure what the overall sugar-to-wine ratio was at this point. Since I'd already amended and reused it so many times.) So I stirred in 1 Tbsp. of extra sugar and let it continue cooking down. I feel like this produced a nice final result as a sauce to drizzle over the pears. That said, this is something that will be largely down to your personal taste (and the wine you use¹).

Pears Poached in Red Wine

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 4-8 Bosc² pears
• 750mL fruity red wine
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 strip of lemon zest (~5cm long and 2.5cm wide)
• 1 cinnamon stick (~7cm long)
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions

1. Peel the pears, leaving the stem on.
2. Using a small spoon or melon baller and starting from the blossom end, remove the cores. (Leaving the stem end in tact.)
3. Trim a thin slice off the bottom of each pear so it will stand upright.
4. Combine the wine, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, and cloves in a small pot and bring to a boil.
5. Add the pears. If there is not enough liquid to cover them, add water until it does.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until pears are tender (20-30 minutes).
7. Transfer pears to dish.
8. Increase heat to medium and boil syrup down until it is somewhat thick and volume is reduced to ~3/4 c.
9. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
10. Drizzle sauce over pears and serve.

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¹ This recipe (and the one for the poached plums that I did before this) calls for a "fruity red wine" and suggests a Merlot or a Zinfandel as good options. I wasn't about to go out and get a whole new bottle of wine just for this, so I used whatever I had on hand already. And I have no idea whether it was a "fruity" wine or not. (Although hopefully all the rounds of fruit poaching in it did serve to lend it some fruitiness.) I think it was relatively dry, but I have no idea whether that has any bearing on its fruitiness or not. I am not a wine person. ^Back
2 The recipe specifically calls for Bosc pears, so that's what I used. That said, I do think it would be interesting to try it with other varieties. I ended up using Bartlett pears for the white wine version and I quite liked those. Don't get me wrong, the Bosc were nice. I'd just be interested to see how Bartlett or Anjou pears turned out when given this treatment. ^Back

I've been on a bit of a poached fruit kick lately. First there were the quince poached in vanilla syrup. Then I was able to doctor the leftover syrup from that to make the poached quince with mascarpone, caramel, and gingersnaps. And, for this recipe, I was able to tinker with the syrup yet again to make these fabulous poached pears.

This does, of course, leave me with the same problem of how to write up the recipe. Since I don't necessarily want to have to make the previous two every time I make these pears. So, as before, I'm going to make a note of what I actually did here, but then write up the recipe (more-or-less) as given in the book.
For this rendition, I simply took the leftover syrup from the second batch of quince (which contained the leftover syrup from the first batch of quince, 1 1/2 c. of white wine, a vanilla bean, grated lemon zest, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, and 1 star anise) and added an extra 1/2 c. of wine and a few slices of fresh ginger.

The original recipe called for 2 c. of Riesling, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 strips of lemon rind, and 3 slices of fresh ginger. So, my version definitely had a few more spices in the mix, but I quited liked it. Especially the vanilla. Given that, I've included the extra spices in the recipe, but listed them as optional. Adjust as you see fit.

Pears Poached in White Wine

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 2 c. Riesling
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1-2 (7cm) cinnamon stick(s)
• 3 slices fresh ginger
• 2-3 strips lemon zest
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (optional)
• 1 star anise (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns (optional)
• 4 pears¹
• 1/4 c. chopped toasted or candied walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the Riesling, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, lemon zest, and whatever other seasonings you've chosen and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, peel and halve the pears. Use a spoon to scoop out the cores and remove the stems.
3. Add the pear halves to the poaching liquid, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, until tender (10-15 minutes).
4. Serve as-is or topped with lightly sweetened mascarpone. (See quince recipe.)
5. Optionally sprinkle a few toasted or candied walnuts over the pears before serving.

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¹ The recipe didn't specify what type of pears to use. I thought anjou would be good here, but I couldn't find any at the grocery store. The bartletts looked quite nice though, so I went for those. ^Back

These were absolutely delicious! TF and I both had seconds. I really loved the combination of flavours and textures. (Even if I did undercook my caramel slightly.) This is definitely my new favourite thing to do with quince!

I did cheat slightly on the syrup for these quince. Recipe as written, it's meant to be made with an entire (750mL) bottle of Riesling, 1 c. of sugar, and a few spices. But I still had a bunch of syrup left over from making the quince poached in vanilla syrup the day before, so I just added the spices and a bit of white wine to that and called it a day. This does mean that my final syrup was a bit different than the recipe called for though:

• The original recipe called for a 1:3 ratio of sugar to liquid (by volume); my starting syrup was 1.25:1 sugar to water (which I then diluted with wine to bring it closer to 1:1.5)
• The original recipe used Riesling as the liquid; mine had a mix of water and white wine
• The original contained star anise, cinnamon, and black peppercorns; mine had those, but also the residual vanilla and lemon zest from the previous recipe

I was quite happy with the overall result. And I was pleased that I was able to reuse the vanilla syrup from the first recipe. The catch is that this does make it somewhat difficult to write up accurately.

I've written up the recipe below based on how I'd do this next time if I didn't have the pre-existing vanilla syrup to build on. I haven't had a chance to test it yet, but I think it would give good results.

Poached Quince with Mascarpone, Caramel, and Gingersnaps

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Quince

• 750mL Riesling
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 (7cm) cinnamon sticks
• 1 star anise
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 1/2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest
• 3-4 quince, peeled and halved¹

Caramel

• 1 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. water
• 2/3 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Assembly

• 225g mascarpone
• 6-8 Tbsp. crushed gingersnaps

Directions

1. Combine the Riesling, sugar, cinnamon sticks, star anise, black peppercorns, and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Add the lemon zest and quince and reduce heat to medium-low.
3. Simmer until quince are tender (~1 hour).
4. Meanwhile, combine sugar and water for caramel, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Uncover and continue cooking, swirling (but not stirring) often until sugar turns a rich caramel colour².
6. Remove from heat and carefully whisk in the cream. Stir until smooth.
7. Stir in the butter, vanilla, and salt. Set aside.
8. Once quince are tender, remove from heat and allow to cool in poaching liquid.
9. Use a spoon or melon baller to scoop out the cores.
10. Mix 3 Tbsp. of the poaching liquid into the mascarpone.
11. Place a quince half in each bowl and top with a generous spoonful of mascarpone.
12. Drizzle with caramel, sprinkle with crushed gingersnaps, and serve.

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¹ The original recipe calls for poaching the quince first and then coring them. I found this quite tricky to do. Next time I'd be tempted to try coring them before poaching. (With the obvious caveat that I have not had a chance to test this approach yet.) ^Back
2 I ended up burning the last batch of caramel I made, so I was a little paranoid this time and took mine off the heat a bit too soon. The flavour was fine, but the colour was very pale and unappealing. I think it needed another 30 seconds or so to properly darken. ^Back

I believe that I mentioned in a previous post that one of TM's friends had given us a bunch of quince recently. TM recommended a quince and lamb dish that she had made with her share of the quince. And it did sound delicious. I would like to look it up and give it a try sometime. But I really wanted to try some of the quince recipes from Dessert of the Day. And they had the benefit of being quick and easy and letting me check off a few more recipes from books I already have. So I started with this very basic poached quince recipe.

For this recipe, the quince are sliced and poached in a simple syrup flavoured with vanilla and lemon. It's a pleasant way to enjoy fresh quince if you happen to have some on hand. The results are not earth-shaking, but they are good. And I appreciate that it's simple and comes together relatively quickly. And if you wanted something a bit more substantial, I could see this being a great topping for rice pudding or waffles.

Quince Poached in Vanilla Syrup

From Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 c. water
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice¹
• 3-4 quince, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 Tbsp. grated lemon zest

Directions

1. Combine the sugar, water, and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 10 minutes.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low and add the quince, lemon juice, and lemon zest and simmer until quince is tender (20-25 minutes).

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¹ I somehow missed the lemon juice in this recipe when I made it! I still got a nice hit of lemon from the lemon zest, but the juice would have given it some extra tang. Whoops! ^Back

The Breakfast Bible contains a recipe for "eggs Blackstone", a variant of eggs Benedict. While the traditional eggs Benedict recipe offers the familiar combination of Hollandaise-smothered poached eggs atop back bacon (or ham) on toasted English muffin halves, eggs Blackstone replaces the English muffin with bread, the back bacon with side/streaky bacon, and adds tomatoes to the mix. It sounds delicious!

I didn't have the ingredients for either of these variations yesterday, however. But I did have both English muffins and eggs. (So many eggs!) And I knew that there was some baby spinach in the fridge that needed to be used up. So I opted for another common variation on eggs Benedict: eggs Florentine.

In this rendition, the meat is replaced with fresh baby spinach. I've also seen versions that sandwich a generous portion of lightly steamed spinach between the eggs and English muffin. And some preparations even have you mix chopped cooked spinach into the Hollandaise sauce! Any of these will work, but my plan was to follow the recipe in front of me and just pile a bit of fresh baby spinach onto the English muffins before adding the eggs.

I say "plan" because that's not actually what ended up happening. It turns out that TF had also had similar thoughts about the spinach needing to be used up and added it to the lentil stew she'd made the previous day. So, I had everything else all ready to go only to realize that I did not, in fact, have any fresh spinach available! Luckily we had some chopped beet greens in the freezer, so I just thawed those out and used them instead. It actually worked quite well! A bit non-traditional perhaps, but good nonetheless.

Eggs Florentine

Slightly adapted from the Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. Hollandaise sauce
• 4 English muffins, split and toasted
• ~2 c. (55g) fresh baby spinach (or greens of choice prepared as desired)
• 8 large eggs, poached
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Prepare your Hollandaise sauce and keep it warm over very, very low heat, stirring occasionally as you prepare the other components.
2. Toast the English muffin halves. You may butter them if you wish, but I find the Hollandaise makes the final dish buttery enough without the need to add more to the muffins.
3. Place ~1/8 of the greens on top of each muffin half.
4. Poach your eggs¹ and place one on top of each muffin half.
5. Top each egg with 2-3 Tbsp. of Hollandaise and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

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Variants

Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. Hollandaise sauce
• 4 English muffins, split and toasted
• 8 slices back bacon, cooked
• 8 large eggs, poached
• salt and pepper, to taste

Eggs Blackstone

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes, sliced thick
• 1-2 tsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 1/2 c. Hollandaise sauce
• 8 slices wholegrain bread, toasted
• 8 slices thick-cut smoked bacon, cooked
• 8 large eggs, poached
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and lightly grease a rimmed baking sheet.
2. Arrange the tomatoes on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme.
3. Roast the tomatoes at 200°C (400°F) for 25-30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the Hollandaise sauce and keep it warm while you prepare everything else.
5. Toast the bread and butter it if you'd like. (Although, as with the eggs Florentine, I don't feel that butter is really necessary.)
6. Cook the bacon and poach the eggs.
7. Top each slice of toast with some of the tomato, a slice of bacon, and an egg.
8. Spoon 2-3 Tbsp. of Hollandaise over each egg.
9. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.

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¹ I recommend 3-4 minutes for soft poached or 5-6 for medium/jammy yolks. Use the freshest eggs possible as the whites of old eggs will tend to feather and spread in the water much more than fresh. Adding a bit of vinegar or other acid to the water can also help reduce feathering. I had a bit of excess lemon juice left over from making the Hollandaise, so I just used that. ^Back

This recipe is presented as a suggested evening main course. It's hearty and full of fibre and protein from the lentils and the eggs. We already had other dinner plans however and I thought it sounded like a promising brunch idea, so we had it for our morning meal.

I was short on brown lentils, so I made it with a mix of brown and French (du Puy) lentils. This seemed to work reasonably well. That said, I think it might be interesting to try it with another variety sometime. Honestly, it might be interesting to play around with both the type of legumes and the spice mix(es) used. What about split peas and bottle masala? Or split, skin-on mung beans and balti masala? Mapte beans (black lentils/sabud urad) and Punjabi garam masala? Red lentils (masoor dal/Egyptian lentils/skinned split brown lentils) and sambhar masala? There are so many possibilities! And you could play around with the dairy too. Simmons offers the option of either milk or cream, but you could try it with yogurt or khoya or coconut milk or some combination of two or more options.

Poached Eggs on Curried Lentils

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 c. mirepoix (or "spaghetti mix")
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. Madras curry powder
• 3 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. brown lentils
• ~3/4 c. diced potato
• 1/2 c. milk or cream
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar (optional)
• 4-8 large eggs
• 1/4 c. fried onions
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add mirepoix and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
4. Add the curry powder and stir to coat the vegetables.
5. Add the water, lentils, and potatoes and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender (~25 minutes).
7. Add the milk (or cream), salt, and pepper and set aside until ready to serve.
8. Fill a deep pan with water (adding the vinegar to the water if desired) and bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat so that the water is gently simmering, crack an egg into a small bowl or cup, and pour it into the water. Repeat with 2-3 more eggs (depending on the size and shape of your pan).
10. Poach eggs for 3-5 minutes: three minutes for soft, five for medium.
11. Scoop some of the lentils into a bowl and top with an egg or two.
12. Sprinkle with some fried onions and cilantro and serve.

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