Poached pears recipe from the inclusive world of Dame Fandango

péché mignon | poached pears slathered in chocolate sauce

Serves 2

This is a lovely and reasonably simple dessert, and you can always use the chocolate sauce for a multitude of other things. Alternatively, you could drain the pears, chop them up and swirl into the chocolate sauce, then scoop into dishes and top with the caramelised nuts. If you're going to do that, use 1-2 tbsp rice milk not 3, because the pears will be quite juicy.

Wheat free, dairy free, nut free, meat free version...

Ingredients...

2 pears, peeled but leave the stalks
¼ pt (150ml) apple juice, white wine or white port
1 tbsp sugar
Cinnamon stick

Chocolate sauce

4 oz (100g) bar 70%+ dark chocolate, such as Green and Black's, broken into squares
2 oz (50g) margarine
3-4 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp coffee granules
1 tbsp water
3 tbsp rice milk
Splash of amaretto if you have some

Method...

In a saucepan, mix the juice with the sugar and cinnamon stick and start to simmer.
Add the pears and cook for 30-40 minutes, turning to make sure they cook evenly.
Take the pears and cinnamon out, turn the heat up a little and reduce the liquid until it starts to get syrupy.
In another saucepan, add the chocolate and dairy-free spread, coffee granules and water and melt over a gentle heat.
Add the rice milk and sieve in 3-4 tbsp of icing sugar.
Stir well until you get a smooth chocolate sauce.
When the syrup is ready, put a pear in a dish, ladle some syrup over and serve drizzled with the chocolate sauce.

Maybe serve with...

This is absolutely enough as it is! Although you could coat a 1-2 tbsp of almonds and/or hazelnuts in tbsp of icing sugar and bake for 10 minutes in oven to make caramelised nut sprinkles.

For those able to eat dairy ...

You can use butter in the chocolate sauce and add 1-2 tbsp cream instead of rice milk.

If you have leftover pears, see the apple crumble, quick fling trifle and the divine chocolate pots. If you have chocolate leftover, see the chocolate fudge, hazelnut cookies or Maggie B 's lethal chocolate cake. If you have margarine left, see the apple crumble, and toasted oat and raisin cakes, and the banana and walnut Welsh cakes.

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