for four
This is really elegant, really unusual because of the bay leaves. The original recipe called for Muscat wine, which is a little pricey. It tastes exactly the same made with white zinfandel (and the resulting dish is prettier, because it's pink. You don't need a great white zinfandel. I use Gallo and it tastes delicious.)
1 1/2 cups Muscat or white zinfandel. The object is to find a sweet white wine.
1 cup of water
1/2 cup sugar
4 bay leaves
4 whole cloves
4 firm, ripe pears, peeled
1) Bring first 5 ingredients to a boil in heavy large saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low. Using vegetable peeler or apple corer, carefully remove cores from pears at base of pears, leaving them whole and stems intact. Add to wine mixture and poach until tender, turning occasionally, about 20 minutes.
2) Using slotted spoon, transfer pears to serving dishes. Garnish each pear with 1 bay leaf and 1 while clove. Boil poaching liquid until reduced to 1/2 cup about 20 minutes. Pour syrup over pears and refrigerate. Can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead.
The Johnson Family Cookbook