Poached Pears

I love pears, I like them fresh, crispy and cool. I also like them poached, soft, tender and sweet. I've been looking at a lot of different recipes and wanted to try something different. I was tempted to do a simple wine based poaching, but I was afraid to do a red wine version, and white wine just seemed ordinary. So I decided to use a recipe that called for green tea.

I didn't go crazy here, but to be sure, there are quite a few green tea options. I just used what I had and brewed a strong pot for my poaching, because as a twist, I also added fresh squeezed orange juice along with a little zest and Seville Marmalade. Of course the other big deal is what kind of pear to use. I've seen recipes for virtually every kind of pear, but the most common seemed to be Bosc, with Anjous also being very popular. I happen to find some really nice looking Golden Taylor's which were very sweet and succulent. These pears are a little rounder in shape and don't have that narrowing at the top. They have a similar outter skin to bosc, no sheen and brownish yellow or gee golden colored. The bosc pear was a logical choice, and they are generally fairly sweet, they are firm and peel very nicely to enhance their lovely classic shape. I kept the stem on. So peel the pears to let the fruit absorb the liquid. I left a little bit of skin at the tip for aesthetic reasons. Unfortunately the Golden, did not have long stems but peeled nicely.

I cut the golden in half and cored it, while I cut the bottom of the bosc at an angle so it would stand up and cored it from the bottom. I added 3/4 cup of sugar to the brewed tea and about two tablespoons of marmalade. I squeezed the juice of one large orange and included some zest before adding the pears. I simmered the pears for about 30 minute making sure they stayed submerged and rotating them in the liquid. The golden is a bit softer and more porous than the bosc and consequently poached faster, I kept it in for about 25 minutes and they were nice and tender.

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