Poached Pears in Red Wine

These deliciously festive pears, tast fabulous served as a dessert.  Enjoy them as is, or heat and serve over vanilla ice cream.  Dice, and toss them into a fresh green salad (throw in a little crumbled goat cheese too), or add to raspberry jello (I substituted the syrup for the cold water).

If you're looking for a quick, elegant dessert, make a small batch and serve warm with ice cream and fresh whipped cream.

3 cups red wine3/4 cup sugar
4 pounds, ripe but firm pears
1/4 cup mulling spice

In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat the red wine, sugar and mulling spice until the sugar is dissolved.

Peel, halve, and core the pears. Lay the pears in a single layer in the red wine syrup.  Poach them over low heat for about 15 minutes.  Turn them over if needed, half-way thru the cooking time, making sure that each pear-half is stained red.  Remove from the skillet, and place in sterile mason jars.

Repeat until all pears are poached.  Pour the hot wine syrup over the pears inside the jars (leaving 1/2 inch head space), and seal with lids. Process in boiling water bath (15 minutes for pints - 25 minutes for quarts).