Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears

Juice the lemon into a large bowl and combine it with the water. Carefully peel the pears, keeping the stems intact and taking care not to dent them. Cut a small slice from the base of each pear so that it can sit upright. Place each one into the lemon juice mixture as you finish peeling and cutting it. This will miraculously keep them from browning!

In a pot that’s large enough to hold all the pears, combine all of the other ingredients besides the mascarpone (wine through cinnamon stick). Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Add the pears and simmer for 25 minutes, turning the pears every 5 minutes or so to ensure even color. They should be tender when pierced with a skewer. They may need 5 to 10 minutes longer if they were not ripe.

Remove pan from heat and allow pears to cool completely in the poaching liquid.

Once completely cool, transfer the pears in their liquid to the fridge for at least several hours and as long as 3 days. I recommend at least overnight to develop a deeper color. You can keep the whole pot in the fridge, or transfer to a different container to save space. If your pot/container is deep enough, keep the pears standing upright. If not, that’s fine, just turn them over occasionally as you are refrigerating them, so that they soak evenly. The sides where they lie down will be a little flat and less colored if they aren’t upright, but no one will mind.

Before serving, strain about 1/3 of the poaching liquid into a saucepan. Put the lid on and bring it to a boil over high heat. Remove lid, reduce heat to medium and let the mixture bubble steadily until it reduces to a syrupy glaze, about 15-20 minutes.

To serve, place each pear on a dessert plate or in a shallow bowl and drizzle with the syrup. Add mascarpone on the side.

Enjoy!

Adapted from The Boston Globe.