Sous-vide Poached Pears

These make a great dessert for dinner parties, especially as they can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge until needed.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp caster sugar
• half a stick of cinnamon
• 4 pears, Comice or Conference
• 375ml sweet dessert wine

Method:

1. Pre-heat the sous-vide water bath to 85 degrees Celsius.
2. Get your sous-vide bags ready, folding the top over slightly (this is more of a habit from handling raw meat, rather than a necessity).
3. Place the sugar and cinnamon sticks evenly between the bags.
4. Take the pears one at a time and do the following:
5. Peel the pear.
6. Remove the stalk at the top.
7. Cut the pear in half, taking care to slice down through the tough core at the top and the sprout of leaves at the bottom.
8. Use the tip of a knife to remove the core in two degrees at 45 degrees into the pear. You'll need to make two cuts around the harder bits which have the seeds.
9. Place the halves in the sous-vide bags.
10. Repeat for the remaining pears.
11. Add the wine to bags.
12. If using a vacuum sealer, you'll probably need to try to seal three or four times, due to all the wine in the bags. It's far easier to use zip-lock bags and the water immersion method to seal the bags.
13. Cook for 30 minutes at 85 degrees Celsius.
14. If making ahead of time, chill and then place in the fridge, otherwise continue.
15. Cut open the bag(s) and pour the liquid into a pan.
16. Simmer the liquid until it has halved in volume.
17. Place two halves of pears in each serving dish and pour over the hot cooking liquid.
18. Serve topped with freshly whipped cream or ice cream.

Serves 4.