Vanilla & Wine Poached Pears

Add the wine, water, vanilla sugar, vanilla bean and pulp to a 3- or 4-quart saucepan. Heat on medium-high and bring to a boil.

While the wine mixture is heating up, core the pears from the bottom to remove all seeds. Once the wine is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and gently add the pears to the saucepan. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are tender but not mushy. Maintain a gentle simmer while cooking the pears. Remove the pears to a serving dish, standing them upright, and place in the refrigerator.

Remove the vanilla bean from the wine mixture and increase the heat to high. Reduce the syrup to approximately 1 cup of liquid, approximately 20-25 minutes. Do not allow the syrup to get dark brown. Remove it from the heat and place in a heatproof bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour or until cool.

Remove the pears from the refrigerator and spoon the sauce on top. Serve whole or sliced with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream if desired. Drizzle extra sauce on top of the ice cream.

To garnish, make a small whole in the top near the stem. Insert a fresh sprig of mint and serve.

(Adapted from a recipe by Alton Brown on Foodnetwork.com 2005)