French Market Recipe 2026 03
Poires au chocolat
Pears coated with chocolate
Ingredients for 4 servings
- 4 firm pears
- 500 ml red wine Pavillon St Pierre Cotes du Rhone
- 100ml water
- 100g brown sugar crystals
- 3 cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 100g chocolate
Directions:
- Peel the pears but retain the stalk by peeling around them.
- Slice the bottom of the pears flat so that they stand upright in a saucepan.
- Use a sharp pointed knife to remove the core from the underneath of the pear in order that the outside shape of the pear stays the same.
- Choose a saucepan where the pears just fit in side by side so that the liquid is as high as possible around the pears while they simmer
- Pour the wine, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaves, and sugar into a heavy based saucepan, heat the liquid gently and stir the ingredients until the sugar melts.
- Add the pears so that they sit on the bottom of the saucepan and the liquid covers the majority of the pear.
- Simmer gently for about a half an hour until the pears are tender.
- Remove the pears carefully with a slatted spoon, retaining the stalks and keep them warm in a serving dish.
- Chop the chocolate into bits and add to the liquid in the saucepan, simmer gently until the chocolate has melted.
- Bring the liquid up to boil and allow it to thicken, about 5 minutes or less, you can check the thickness by watching the liquid on the back of a spoon, it should coat it and not be too watery
- Pour the sauce through a sieve into a jug to remove cloves and bay leaves.
- Pour the sauce over the pears in one large dish, or place each pear on an individual small plate and top with chocolate sauce
Serve the pears warm, accompanied by a bowl of crème fraiche and a glass of Gustave Lorentz Gewurtztraminer, available at our French Market shop or order online at www.frenchmarket.co.za.
Bon Appétit