Recipes & Food Styling

Pinot Noir-Poached Pears 🍐 

Pinot Noir-Poached Pears are an elegant dessert to cap off a traditional autumn meal of schnitzel, beer brats and more. Add a splash of class to your next brat party. 

Couldn’t find Bosc pears with leaves, but mint leaves gave these the perfect touch of bright color. My Grandma Hinke just passed away. She was 101! She loved pears.  I have so many memories of her in the kitchen, peeling pears. She was a teenager through the Great Depression, so she’d use a very small paring knife to peel pears as close as she could so not a bit would go to waste.

Pears are rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin K & potassium.

These pears are the perfect salute to fall!

Pinot Noir-Poached Pears

Peel 5 Bosc pears; leave the stems. In a Dutch over on the stovetop, combine a bottle of Pinot Noir (Louis Jadot, 2017);  2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg, 5 star anise, 1 vanilla bean pod (scrape the inside); & 2 cinnamon sticks for 30 minutes. Add pears and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Turn pears after 15 minutes for even color. Beat a carton of heavy whipping cream with 1 cup sugar. Serve pears with cream. Top off with a bright, green mint leave; place it right where a pear leaf would be. Sprinkle a few shakes of ground cinnamon and nutmeg on top. If you still have fresh lavender, a few  lavender buds will add tiny pops or colora and terrific bits of flavor. Sprinkle a few buds on the edge of the dessert plate.