Port Poached Pears

Ingredients:

• 4 Bosc pears; peeled (and cored if you have an apple coring tool)

• 1 bottle of port wine

• 1/2 cup of white sugar

• 3 strips of orange peel

• 1 vanilla bean

For serving: good quality vanilla ice cream.

In a sauce pan (big enough to eventually hold your four pears), combine the port, sugar and 2 cups of water. Warm up the mixture until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Stir in your orange peels and vanilla beans.

Add your pears to the liquid and simmer for about an hour and a half; occasionally turning the pears around in the liquid and spooning the liquid over the pears.

Once your pears are soft but not falling apart (you should be able to cut them with a spoon, so you can test this by using a toothpick to see if it is soft), remove the pears from the sauce, and set them in a dish. I put them in a loaf pan so they could stand up.

Remove the orange peels and vanilla bean and bring the the liquid to a soft boil. Reduce the the sauce down so it is thick and syrupy.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream and some for the extra sauce spooned over!