Krackin' UP in the Kitchen: Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears

Updates have just been slow b/c of finals (32 wonderful pgs of good ol' literary analysis written in total) and a mad dash back home to the South for the holiday. And now, in a desperate effort to get a post out, I've even sunk so low as to pick up someone else's wi-fi in the neighborhood. Ah well, HAPPY HOLIDAY & THANKS FOR PROVIDING, NEIGHBOR DUDE. But, I haven't forgotten about my blog, not for one minute. And inbetween e-mailing the final final paper and catching a plane after waiting in the crazy Christmas lines at LAX, I managed to make my first attempt at dessert EVER.

The Challenge: Make a healthy Christmas dessert.
The Expectation: Something delicious enough to replace Christmas cookies, pies, and cakes.
Est. Cook Time: 30 minutes (this is what it says on the website)
Actual Cook Time: 30 minutes plus 3hrs+ in the fridge of cool down time (yeah, totally wasn't expecting this extra wait time)
Level: Intermediate (really it should be 'easy,' but whatever)

The Recipe: (compliments of foodnetwork.com)
Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears

Ingredients:
2 cups dry red wine, such as cabernet or merlot
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 orange, juiced (about 1/2 cup)
1 (1 by 3-inch) strip orange zest
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
4 firm, ripe pears

Directions:
In a 4-quart saucepan, combine wine, sugar, orange juice, zest, cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. While liquid is simmering, peel pears, leaving stem intact and being careful not to blemish the flesh of the pears. Slice 1/2-inch off the bottom of the pears to create a flat bottom. Gently place pears in poaching liquid, cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes to ensure even color, until pears are cooked but still firm. Remove saucepan from flame, uncover and cool with pears upright in pan. Once cool, cover and chill in refrigerator at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally, if desired. Gently remove pears from liquid and allow to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, reduce liquid by about half over a medium-high flame for 15 minutes, until liquid is thicker and slightly syrupy. Remove from flame and let liquid come to room temperature. Drizzle each pear with 2 tablespoons syrup and serve.How it went down:

Okay, so it was the night before I had to fly out to my folks' home back South, and my boyfriend and I were planning a special Christmas night. We went and bought a pizza, so I wouldn't spend all night cooking, but I planned on making these pear things as dessert, something easy, romantic, and special. He's not a huge fan of fruit, but I know he loves pears & syrup & wine, so I thought, *aaaa, perfect!*

But as I continued reading the directions, after the pears were in the blood red liquid poaching, I read "once cool, cover and chill in the refridgerator at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours" and my mouth dropped. It was already like nine at night, the Grinch had already returned the presents to the Whos, and our unwrapped presents were happily sitting on the coffee table. Ay! The website does not disclose this information up front. I even watched the how-to video, but missed this information somehow. Oh well. So we ended up eating them in the morning, an hour before we had to drive to LAX so I could catch my plane. Tastewise, they were pretty good - quite tangy though. Now I LOVE tangy and sour foods, but I wouldn't recommend eating these on an empty stomach like we did.

These pears are in no way as good or satisfying as cherry pie or ginger bread cookies, and I feel like they need something else (both to compliment the flavor and to enhance the presentation, which is blood blood red) - maybe whipped cream or nuts or both! I'm not sure if I'll make these again.

Mission Not a Total Failure.

Taste: 2.5/5 food critics

Next time, I think I might just try the dessert recipes in the JOY OF COOKING or MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING books that my sweet, lovely boyfriend got me for Christmas! So excited!!!