Lauren Burns' poached pears with cardamom cream

Womans~Day

Serves: 4

Type: Easy

Tools

Kitchen friendly view

Ingredients

500 g raw sugar
1 litre water
250 ml red wine
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
4 firm pears

½ cup plain yoghurt
½ cup cream
1 tablespoon honey
seeds from 5 fresh cardamom pods,
crushed

Preparation method

Cardamom cream: Combine all the ingredients thoroughly. Cover and leave overnight in the fridge.
Next day, combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over a medium–high heat. Bring to the boil and allow to reduce for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the red wine and spices and cook for another 5 minutes.
Peel the pears and carefully place them in the saucepan. You need to ensure
the pears are covered while they cook. – to achieve this, cut a round of baking
paper the same diameter as the saucepan and place it over the pears and then
place a plate on top of the baking paper. Reduce the heat to very low and
simmer for 2–3 hours.
Drizzle the pears with syrup and serve with the cardamom cream.

TOP TIP

They can be served as a dessert with cardamom cream (as in this recipe), or for breakfast with porridge, muesli or pancakes.
The cardamom cream is a beautiful accompaniment for any kind of poached fruit. The cardamom flavour is subtle, and adding the yoghurt makes it less rich than plain cream.

Also in this section

Pear and cheese salad with pesto dressing

Upside down apricot and pear cake

Pear and ricotta strudel

Toffee pear galettes

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