Poached Pear and Feta Bread
April 17th, 2009 by chuck
Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter, filled with great food and perhaps a few chocolate bunnies too lol. We spent our Easter at my sisters house with the whole family. My brother in-law made a Turducken and it was amazing. For those who don’t know what a Turducken is, it’s a de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, stuffed with a de-boned chicken. It was the tastiest dish I have ever had! Sadly … I don’t have any photos to show you. The next time he makes it we will bring our camera.
I was responsible for the dessert this year and made these delicious poached pears. They are simple, stunning and mouthwatering to look at. What I really liked about them was the fact that they took about 2 hours to poach in a rich,warm liquid. This was perfect because after having a large dinner, we all had time to sit and digest some of the food we had pigged out on.
The pears are poached in red wine, cranberry juice with a vanilla bean, sugar and a few cinnamon sticks. They turned out beautifully, with a stunning red wine color on the outside of the pear. I wanted to use one of the wonderful wines B.C. is known for. I went for one from a smallish winery in Oliver, B.C. called Sawmill Creek. It was their Shiraz which is a rich, full bodied red wine that combines the flavours of black cherry, dark plums with a hint of pepper and oak. It is a pretty powerful wine, I was tempted to just drink it! The wine added a soft, lush taste to the poached pears that made the desert look and feel impressive.
After poaching the pears in the liquid, I removed them and thickened the liquid into a sauce. I served the poached pears with a rich, creamy vanilla ice-cream and small waffle biscuit. Simply delicious and easy to make.
Believe it or not, I did have some of the poached pears left over from our meal! They were such a hit, I started thinking that they could make a great bread! I diced the remaining poached pears and threw in some feta cheese. Cheese, wine and fruit bread – what could be better?
The bread is almost the same as a scone in texture and taste. With the combination of wine, cranberry juice, feta and pears, you get a very flavorful bread that looks stunning and would be perfect for a lunch or for a breakfast with a cup of tea.
Here’s the recipe for the poached pears.
Poached Pears
Ingredients:
1 bottle red wine ( Sawmill Creek Shiraz Wine )
3 cups 100% cranberry juice ( unsweetened )
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean sliced open
2 cinnamon sticks.
6 – 8 peeled and cored firm pears
1 ) Pick firm/hard pears and peel.
2 ) Remove the core from the bottom of the pear with a melon baller. Slice the bottoms of the pears so they will sit straight.
3 ) In a large pot add the wine, cranberry juice, sugar, vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks.
4 ) Add the pears and turn the heat very low, just under a simmer.
5 ) Every once in awhile turn the pears, for 2 hour or until pears are tender when you poke with a fork.
6 ) Remove and thicken the sauce with a little corn starch.
7 ) Serve warm with ice cream.
For a step by step class for this great bread recipe Poached Pear and Feta Bread click here
You, my friend, are ingenious! I keep referring friends here…to have some inspiration. Thanks for your continuous recipes and making us all feel like we too can be a great chef!
Your poached pears look delicious, and I love the idea of a scone-like bread. Sounds great!
Mmm. Sounds and looks delicious.
This looks AMAZING! One of these days, I am going to muster up enough courage to try to make bread and this one is at the top of my list!
Wow, I love poach pear, this look so delicious.
Cheers,
elra
I just had a pear and feta salad and loved the combo. Feta is one of my favorite cheese! Thanks for this recipe, sounds amazing.
Fantastic! This recipe is awesome and that bread must taste heavenly! I love the photos…
cheers,
Rosa
Superbe! This is such a new bread to me. Looks really good.
You’ve done it again. Feta in the bread? Yes!
Your breads are just amazing (still thinking/talking about the beet bread), and this looks/sounds beyond fantastic.
What a great idea!! Pears always make great combo with cheese… feta, pears, pastry and sweet chilli sauce!
Have a nice day and don’t forget to submit your entry to Mayan Magic Chocolate-Making Kit Giveaway…
Margot
Oooh thanks! I made some carrot soup the other day, and was trying to think of a nice bread to pair with it. I think I’ll make a variation of this with spinach and feta.
I’m definitely intrigued by these flavors for bread…it does sound like a delicious combination and perfect for a brunch. Your poached pears look gorgeous! Next year you’ll have to bring the bread for Easter. Turducken – yum… there’s not much I wouldn’t do for someone willing to make that!
Happy (belated) Easter, Chuck! This bread looks incredible, almost like Irish Soda Bread, which I’m a huge fan of. That and the flavor combination sounds outstanding!
I really like the sound of a bread with poached pears and feta in it. The sweet and salty combo would be really nice.
Droooooooool! As a new viewer of this website, you have answered my prayers for a bread tutorial – just baked my first wheat bread this weekend, with OK results. Taste was good, but crumb was dense.
Thanks!
What a fantastic flavor combination – I love how you poached the pears!
Another winning bread—and the photos are absolutely mouthwatering. I’ve always loved bread, but your blog has made me come to appreciate it so much more!
Darn, I’d like to try this but I don’t feel up to poaching pears
I’ll think about someway to get that pear drunk and in that bread don’t worry 
I loove poached pears just by themselves with a scoop of cool mascarpone. I bet they would be delicious in this bread too!
Tried the brown gluten free bread recipe 1, as I am gluten intolerant and having to learn to bake all over again. The loaf raised and fell significantly in the middle, in fact, all the way to the bottom of the pan. I’ll try less yeast next time, but the recipe was unreliable.