Poached Pears in White Wine

A couple of years ago I had poached pears with ice cream, and it was so good!  Since we had pears and a little wine left in the fridge, I thought I'd try it out.  It came out pretty good- the only hard part was not overcooking the pears.  I like them  a little crunchy, so you can cook them longer if you want them soft.  Also, I didn't have ice creams, so I had to do without, but the white wine sauce on top made up for it.  Another nice thing with this recipe is that it makes the house smell nice!

Ingredients

2 cups white wine1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 whole clove

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 star anise

1 green cardamom pod, split open

2 pears (I used Bosc)

8 walnut halves (optional)

Directions

1.  Peel, core, and cut the pears into quarters.2.  In a small saucepan, mix everything except the pears and walnuts.  Heat on med-high until the sugar dissolves, then turn down the heat to med so that it's simmering.3.  Add the pears and simmer until pears are barely done (~15 min, if you insert a knife it should go in easily).  Remove the pears from the pan.4.  Add the walnuts and continue to simmer the wine mixture for another 20-30 mins until only half remains.  Keep in mind that the more you burn off, the sweeter the wine sauce will be.5.  Serving ideas: Place a pear quarter in a small bowl with 2 walnuts and drizzle the warm wine sauce on top.  You can also serve it at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.  The only way I didn't enjoy it too much is when it's cold (as in straight from the fridge)- other than that, have fun with it!