Christmas Eve Menu for Six. It's just close friends and we'll each make a dish...

J

joe

Well-known member
A tin of foie gras

Baked Brie

Blueberry and Pomegranate Salad with pepitas, homemade pita chips and mshalale cheese

Cioppino with Halibut and Sourdough toast

Poached pears with honey and spice

 
Poached Pears with Honey and Spices. Jacques jotted this down from a Belgian TV show years ago

I got him to translate it this morning

4 pears
400 g. sugar
1 lemon
50 g. Butter
50 g. honey
2 d.l. thick cream
10 g. cinnamon
2 star anise
3 cloves
1 tsp. black peppercorns

Make a syrup with sugar and 1 liter water. Add juice of the lemon. Bring to a simmer. Peel pears, retaining stem, and poach until tender.

Cool pears. Halve and core them.

Grind spices coarsely. Lift out the pieces, leaving any dust behind.

Heat honey and butter is a wide pan. Add pears cut side down, keeping track of the halves, and baste with the butter and honey. Sprinkle with the coarse spices and heat through. Remove to plates, reassembling the pears on plates. (see note below)

Add cream to the pan and bring to the boil. Pour over pears and serve.

(Jacques made this often a while back and always just served the halves on a platter. I plan to make it even easier and halve them before poaching,)

 
Thanks, everyone! I will be combining a couple recipes for the cioppino, but I like the serving of

a solid hunk of fish in the center of this one, which makes it more of a main course. I will add leeks, jalapeno, and red bell pepper from another recipes.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top