Poached pear in port

Pear is a typical autumn fruit and it is something that I can't resist when I am at the grocery.  I was just supposed to get some butter and vegetable which Siefko forgot to include in the AH delivery order we had but the sight of those pears at almost nothing for a kilo was too hard to resist.  I used not to eat pear till I tasted it as a dessert with vanilla ice cream and cream on the side and it was amazingly good.  Since then, I came up with my own version of the recipe and just loves it as dessert to go with any Dutch-themed dinners.

I normally don't have hard and fast rules when it comes to ingredient contents.  My cooking style has always been on the cowboy side, using more my feeling rather than being so strict with the amount of ingredients.  Anyway, let me give you an approximation for this poached pear recipe.

• 1 kilo pear (for poaching/cooking to distinguish it from the pear for raw eating)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 100 ml port or red wine
• Peel of 1 citroen
• 2 to 3 pieces of cinnamon sticks

Instructions:

• Peel the pear.
• In a saucepan, add water to a level that is about 2/3 when the pears are submerged in it.
• Add the sugar, port, citroen peel and cinnamon sticks.
• Bring to a boil and then lower the heat/fire that the pear will just be simmering for the next 2 hours. 
• Occasionally turn the pear from one side to the next.
• After 2 hours, the pear will be soft, the liquid will be reduced to half or less.  Let it cool down.

• You can serve it with vanilla ice cream and cream or just eat it as it is.  I love it just as it is.  The sauce have so much flavor from the port, the aroma of the citroen peel and cinnamon stick.