Recipe: Poached pears with rum golden sultanas

Poached Pears with Rum Golden Sultanas.

Serves 6

• For the poached pears:
• 500ml water
• 200ml white wine
• 500g caster sugar
• 2 vanilla pods, sliced down the middle with the seeds scraped out, or 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 3 whole star anise
• 3-5 whole cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 brown ripe pears, peeled, sliced in half and cores removed

For the rum sultanas:
• 100g large golden sultanas or standard raisins
• Rum of choice

To serve:
• Vanilla ice cream
• Sliced almonds

1. For the poached pears, combine the water, white wine, sugar, vanilla, star anise, cloves and cinnamon in a pot and bring to the boil. Add the pears to the poaching liquid and simmer until the pears are soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool. The pears can be done the day before and stored in the fridge, submerged in the poaching liquid until required (this allows them to absorb the flavours of the poaching liquid).

2. For the rum sultanas, place the sultanas in a small saucepan and pour in some of the poaching liquid from the pears until the sultanas are just covered. Add rum to taste and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and allow the sultanas to soak up the flavours (this can be done a day ahead and stored the same way as the pears).

3. To serve, reheat the pears slightly on the stove top in the poaching liquid. Plate half a pear in a bowl, add a scoop of ice cream and spoon over the sultanas and rum mix. Sprinkle with a few sliced almonds and serve immediately. The dish can also be served with cold pears, if desired.