Lotte’s Spiced Pears

If you have some time on your hands or are looking to do something thoughtful for a friend, why not make a batch of these delicious spiced pears. Lotte Duncan, chef and presenter tells us they are wonderful as a gift or to store in your cupboard for when you fancy a treat!

SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS

• 6 medium-sized semi-ripe pears, peeled, left whole with stalks and the bottom bit of core removed.
• 450g frozen mixed berries
• 570ml red wine
• 1 star anise
• 1 small bay leaf
• 1 large cinnamon stick
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 whole lump of preserved stem ginger, sliced
• 350g caster sugar

CREATING YOUR MASTERPIECE

1. Place the pears in the bottom of a large saucepan.
2. Add the berries, ¾ of the red wine, the star anise, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves.
3. Place the lid on and bring up to the boil and simmer until tender – not too much otherwise the pears will fall apart.
4. Remove the pears and gently place into a sterilised Kilner jar.
5. Remove the star anise, bay leaf and cinnamon stick and add to the pears in the jar.
   Now add 3 more new whole cloves (ignore the old ones) and the sliced ginger to the jar too.
   Push the liquid and fruit through a sieve, making sure you get as much juice out of the fruit as possible.
6. Replace the sieved fruit and juice into the saucepan, add the rest of the wine and the sugar and boil until syrupy.
7. Pour this over the pears, seal the jar and label. Although you can eat it straight away too!
   These pears are delicious with cheese and wonderful over ice cream.