The first time I ate stewed pears was at a friend's house, I must have been six or seven years old. They served ratatouille and as dessert, stoofpeertjes. Ratatouille sounds much like "rat-something" and the chunks of eggplant were HUGE, something I was not necessarily fond of, but I was raised right so ate without complaining. I felt so rewarded for my good behavior when we had stoofpeertjes for dessert....Once I bit into one of these soft, tender, sweet pears, all eggplant misery was forgotten and I was in food-heaven.
Stoofpeertjes can be served as a side-dish to a beef entrée, or as dessert with some yogurt or hangop. It is easy to make and, if you have any leftover cranberry sauce and a bottom of red wine from Thanksgiving, I'd be sure to give it a try. These pears will be a beautiful addition to your Christmas dinner table.
The stoofpeertjes are pears that improve from stewing and turn red, like the Gieser Wildeman. As they are not available to us here in the US, I've chosen some sturdy Bartletts to do the job.
Stoofpeertjes
4 pears, peeled but with stem1/2 cinnamon stick
1 lemon peel, no pith
1 cup of apple juice* optional
1/3 cup of sugar
Simmer for about forty minutes, turning the pears over occassionally, but don't simmer them past their point as you want the fruit to remain whole. Remove the pears carefully as the fruit will be soft, then reduce the sauce or thicken with some cornstarch. Pour the sauce over the pears. This dish can be served warm or cold.
heel lekker met zitroen sgil egt een aan radar voor al lekker bei het eis
ReplyDeleteMy mom always used Manischewitz wine (or other cheap berry wine) for this. But she'd make a whole big pot of them and put them in the freezer. I do not recommend freezing them, they always ended up a bit mushy. But mushy was my mom's kitchen theme I think...
ReplyDeleteServe with homemade custard, ooooh boy!
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ReplyDeleteI say use port and blueberrysyrup instead of sugar and wine, add a clove and some cardamon to further deepen the taste of this traditional dish, it needs spice and booze, dont worry about the alchohol, it will cook of and serve with custard and or (ice)cream
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