Instant Pot Wine Poached Pears
Ingredients:
6 firm pears, peeled
1 bottle of Red Wine – a dry, tarty, tannic red wine like Sangiovese or Barbaresco
1 Bay Laurel leaf
4 cloves (the spice)
1 stick (or 1 tsp) Cinnamon
1 piece of fresh (or 1 tsp) of Ginger
2 cups sugar
(optional)1 Bunch of Herbs for decoration -sage, mint, oregano or basil
Directions:
Peel the pears, leaving the stem attached. Pour the bottle of wine in the pressure cooker.
Add the bay, cloves, cinnamon, ginger and sugar. Mix well to dissolve.
Add the pears to the pressure cooker and close and lock the lid.
Turn the heat on to high and when the pan reaches pressure, lower the heat to the minimum and start counting 5-7 minutes cooking time at high pressure.
When time is up, open the pressure cooker with the Natural release method – move the cooker off the burner and wait for the pressure to come down on its own (about 10 minutes). For electric pressure cookers, when cooking time is up count 10 minutes of natural open time. Then, release the rest of the pressure slowly using the valve.
Pull out the pears carefully using tongs or two spoons.
Set the pears aside and put the pressure cooker back on the heat, without the lid, to reduce the cooking liquid to a third of the original amount.
Drizzle syrup on pears, decorate with herbs and serve either room temperature or chilled.
If made ahead-of time, refrigerate pears in the cooking liquid syrup.
