Poached Pears with a Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce
Poached pears are a nice light breakfast starter. When you are done poaching the pears, strain and cool the poaching liquid and store in a covered container in the refrigerator. This liquid can be kept for 2 weeks, and used as many times as you would like. The more fruit you poach in the liquid, the more flavorful it becomes.
My Pistachio Pound Cake recipe can be found in a previous post, and it a perfect canvas for the poached pear. I also serve the poached pears over a Lemon-Poppy Seed Bread.
TOOL TIP:
This Melon Baller is so versatile and can be used for everything from coring pears and apples to removing the seeds from cucumbers and zucchini.
Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce – Fresh summer berries can be used in this recipe, but frozen ones work just as well. If you use frozen berries, get the IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) berries. Other berries work equally as well in this sauce. Blueberries and boysenberries can be directly substituted for the raspberries, while strawberries should be finely chopped before being added. I personally love the taste of Anise, but If you don’t care for the anise flavor, substitute a few cinnamon sticks.
PRODUCT TIP:
Star Anise is one of my favorite flavors. I use them in some of my favorite recipes like my Duck Leg Confit and in this recipe for Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce.
Poached Pears With a Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce
Course: BreakfastCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium4
servings35
minutes15
minutesIngredients
1 lemon
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 stick cinnamon bark
2 whole star anise
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup orange juice
2 firm/ripe bosc pears
4 slices of Pistachio pound cake
Crème Anglaise (Optional)
- Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
3 whole star anise
1 Tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise (or 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 cup water
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
Directions
- With a vegetable peeler, remove strips of the yellow outer zest from the lemon. Juice the lemon. Place the lemon juice and zest in a small saucepan with the corn syrup, sugar, cinnamon stick, star anise, red wine, raspberries and orange juice. Bring to a boil and reduce the poaching liquid to a simmer.
- Peel the pears, cut in half and core with a melon baller. Poach the pears for 15 minutes or until tender. Remove and let cool slightly.
- Slice pears on the diagonal and fan out over a slice of the Pistachio pound cake. Top with a few Tablespoons of raspberry-star anise sauce, dust with powdered sugar, and ladle a little Crème anglaise around the perimeter of the plate.
- Raspberry-Star Anise Sauce
- In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, star anise and cornstarch. Mix well. Finely mince the lemon zest. Scrape the vanilla beans from the pod and add both to the pan with the water, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Fish out the star anise and vanilla pod and discard. Stir in the raspberries. Return to a boil and cool.
