Spiced Poached Pears with Salted Caramel

Pears

• 8 - 10 brown beurré bosc pears (you can use any pears I just find these keep their shape & texture well once cooked)
• 8 cups boiling water (or enough to just cover the pears)
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 2 tbs ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp cloves
• Fresh orange rind (about 4-6 strips using a vegetable peeler)
• ¼ cup rice malt syrup or honey
• 2-3 star anise (if you’re not a fan of the flavour you can leave the star anise out. I like the flavour for breakfast but I would leave it out for dessert pears)

Salted Caramel

• 200g butter
• 2½ cups brown sugar, firmly packed
• 500ml cream ( you could also use greek yoghurt)
• 2 tsp sea salt 

Pears

1. Pour boiling water into a large pot. (It is better if the pot is wider than deeper)
2. Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise (leave out for the dessert pears), ground cinnamon, rice malt syrup or honey and orange rind into the boiling water.
3. Peel the pears and pop them in the pot. I like to leave some whole and cut some in half, then use a melon baller to take out the core of the halved pears.
4. Bring the pears back up to a simmer. At this point, if you stir the spiced water, you might find it is a bit slimey... dont freak out, it sometimes does this. If it is worrying you, add some extra boiling water and it should thin out.
5. Now leave the pears to simmer for 1½ - 2 hours with the lid on, but tilted. I often like to leave the pears in the pot overnight to soak in all the lovely spices. If you are storing the pears, store them in a container in the fridge with some of the juices.

Salted Caramel

1. Add the butter, brown sugar and cream (or yoghurt if using) into a medium sized saucepan.
2. Stir until the butter melts and all ingredients are incorporated.
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15-20 minutes* or until the caramel coats the back of the spoon.
4. Take the caramel off the heat and stir the salt through.
5. Lastly, pour the caramel over the poached pears and serve with natural yoghurt.
    

* If you’re using greek yoghurt in place of the cream the caramel should only take about 5-10 minutes to thicken up.