Poached pears in red wine

• vanilla pod↗1
• bottle red wine↗1
• caster sugar↗225g g
• cinnamon stick↗1

  halved

• fresh thyme↗

  sprig, plus sprigs to serve

• pears↗6

  peeled, but kept whole with stalk intact

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Halve the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the black seeds and put in a large saucepan with the wine, sugar, cinnamon and thyme. Cut each piece of pod into three long thin strips, add to pan, then lower in the pears.

2. 2

   Poach the pears, covered, for 20-30 mins, making sure they are covered in the wine. The cooking time will very much depend on the ripeness of your pears – they should be tender all the way through when pierced with a cocktail stick. You can make these up to 2 days ahead and chill.

3. 3

   Take the pears from the pan, then boil the liquid to reduce it by half so that it’s syrupy. Serve each pear with the cooled syrup, a strip of vanilla, a piece of cinnamon and a small thyme sprig.