Day 8: Making do

I love a pear.  Conference, Williams, Comice, Packham, I'm not fussed. But I never get to eat them raw.  I don't know whether it is me, the kitchen or the house but this is how it usually goes after I buy them: day 1- rock hard, day 2- rock hard, day 3 - mush.  They seem to go from inedible to inedible without passing through perfectly ripe.  So when I have pears (and I rarely buy them) I cook them.  Whether poached or baked they are always delicious, helped along by cooking syrups made with wine and dried fruits and served with lashings of cream.  Obviously there is no wine (and if there were I wouldn't be cooking with it) and no cream - £30 is too little to fritter on such luxuries.  But having planned a dinner tonight of frozen and recooked leftovers I really, really fancied something fresh, sweet and unctuous for dessert.

The lovely Liz from the Tuesday's Needle and Natter group
had given me four pears, and one was a

bit ahead of the game and had already turned to mush, but the other three were still at the rock hard stage.  So while my savoury bread-n-butter pudding was reheating I peeled them and put them in a pan to poach.  I added a 'turmeric gold' tea bag, a few whole cloves and some lemon peel, a tablespoon of sugar and a half a cup of ginger cordial (not having any stem ginger or crystallised ginger in the house).  Real root ginger would have worked as well, but more sugar would have been needed.  I poached them until they were tender (about 20 minutes) and then turned off the heat.  After I ate my main course  I removed them from the pan and reheated and reduced the cooking liquor by about half, checking the sweetness along the way.  The ginger cordial really packs a punch and the turmeric tea and cloves adds a warming spiciness as well as a great colour.  Served with the syrup and a little  'Skyr' the pears were as delicious if not as calorific as those poached in red wine and served with creme fraîche. Sometimes 'making do' is no hardship.

I had two pears for dessert and will have the third with my breakfast porridge. The remaining syrup I have a use for tomorrow evening, once it's been chilled.

Today's visit to the Chryston Quilters' Group was a pleasure, they are a wonderful group of women with a wealth of interesting life experiences.  I am certain to learn a lot from them about quilting too, not least that others share my obsession.  I  also found time today to send off Shirley's scrap sock-wool scarf.  These scarves are very satisfying to make, so another will be started tonight.  Tomorrow is a cooking, cleaning, ironing sort of day so a little treat for dinner might be called for.

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