ReTRo HouSeWiFe

RECIPES FROM THE RETRO HOUSEWIFE

DESSERT

Beaujolais Pears with Cassis and Prunes, American

This one is a killer! It's incredibly delicious with creme fraiche:
Mrs. Milla Kette, www.plan2succeed.org

Ingredients

(Try to select pears of uniform size, otherwise they will cook in different times --some might be overcooked, some, raw.)

• 4 bottles (750 ml each) Beaujolais
• 4 cups sugar
• 12 pounds firm-ripe pears, such as Bartlett or Cornice
• Whole cloves, 3 allspice berries
• 1 or 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 36 prunes
• 1/3 cup Crème de Cassis

Preparation Instructions

In a large nonreactive pan combine the wine and sugar, bring the mixture slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved, and remove from the heat. Peel the pears, removing the blossom ends but leaving the stems intact. Drop the pears directly into the wine syrup to pre­vent discoloration.

Tie the cinnamon stick, broken in half, the cloves, and allspice in a square of cheesecloth. Add the spice bag, rosemary, and prunes to the syrup, bring the syrup slowly back to a boil, and simmer the pears for 20 minutes. (Note that the pears do not have to be completely cooked at this point.) Discard the spice bag and rosemary and with a slotted spoon transfer the pears and prunes to large (2- or 3-quart) warm jars, standing the pears upright on the bottom layer and arranging the next layer of pears upside down. Continue alternating the pat­tern until the jars are filled.

Boil the syrup until it is reduced by about three-fourths, or the equivalent of 1 bottle of wine. Stir the crème de cassis into the syrup. Strain the liquid through a double thickness of dampened cheesecloth, ladle it into the jars, and seal the jars.

Process the jars in a boiling water bath: 1 hour for 2-quart jars, 1 hour and 10 minutes for 3-quart jars. Let them cool completely before checking the seals and storing. Yields 6 quarts

Contributed by Mrs. Milla Kette, 2007

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