Poached Pears

This is a light and delicious recipe and can me made in a  short space of time.
50g caster sugar
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick/powder
2 star anise
1 tsp vanilla essence/vanilla pod split
7 conference pears peeled with stalks
150g plain chocolate, chopped 85g/3oz unsalted butter
For the chocolate sauce, melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl placed over a saucepan of hot water. Mix well.
Drain the pears. Most recipes recommend reducing the wine mixture but as I’ve used less wine than most recipes, I didn’t.
Pour chocolate sauce over the pears and serve. Works well with vanilla ice-cream too.

Ingredients:

200 ml red wine

Method:

Add the wine, sugar, cloves, star anise, cinnamon and vanilla in a casserole dish. When the wine mix begins to simmer, add the pears and poach for about 30 mins. Turn often so all the pears get soaked well.