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Vanilla Poached Pears with Simple Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

14/5/2012

 

Vanilla Poached Pears with Simple Salted Butter Caramel Sauce

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The title of this snippet will have no doubt grabbed your attention and you are already close to drooling, I'm sure. For if you are anything like me, you love fruit-based desserts and ADORE caramel. Yes?

I first learned about caramel in a 1970s high school home economics class, when Miss Ovens (truly!) taught me and a handful of other budding young food enthusiasts the joys of making Russian Caramels. That was to be one of the more memorable highlights of those cooking classes, and far tastier than Scotch Eggs and Tuna Mornay!
Salted butter caramel seems to be the flavour of the year, or perhaps decade. There are numerous recipes for it on the internet; you can indulge in exquisite (and pricey) Le Petit Saunier salted caramels at The Essential Ingredient; and Maggie Beer has recently released a chocolate and salted butter caramel ice cream. David Lebovitz imparts his expert advice on making the perfect caramel and shares his recipe for his much blogged salted butter caramel ice cream. 

Fellow food blogger, Manuela, also recently published an inspiring version of Blue Persian salt caramel sauce served with pear ice cream. I tried Manuela's recipe and was blown away by the amazing combination of flavours, although I have to admit I used Maldon sea salt, as I didn't have any Blue Persian salt at hand.

This snippet is my celebration of Autumn pears combined with vanilla and caramel, in a simple salted butter caramel sauce that can be very quickly  and easily prepared. I have been making this caramel sauce for years and it's a favourite at our place. It doesn't quite have the depth of flavour of the David Lebovitz version, but in terms of sheer deliciousness, it comes close. Do please try it and let me know what you think.

VANILLA POACHED PEARS WITH (SIMPLE) SALTED BUTTER CARAMEL SAUCE
Pears:
2 Winter Nelis, Packham, Williams or Beurre Bosc pears
1 vanilla pod
a little lemon zest
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1 cup water

Caramel:
125g good quality butter
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
a pinch of sea salt
300mls cream

Peel the pears and remove the core at the base with a melon baller, taking care to leave the stems intact. Place the pears onto a plate and sprinkle with a few drops of lemon juice to prevent them from browning.

Combine the sugar, water, lemon zest and scraped vanilla bean in a deep saucepan and stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Lower the heat (or use a heat diffuser), add the pears and poach gently for up to an hour, basting the pears gently every so often. The idea is to very gently poach the fruit in the syrup, and not allow it to boil. The pears will remain intact and the flesh will be perfectly delicious. Allow to cool, refrigerate overnight if you wish. Serves 2, but simply add more pears for more serves.

To make the caramel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sugar. Stir over a low heat without boiling until the sugar dissolves. Bring the sauce to the boil, then simmer, uncovered and without stirring, for two to three minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and wait for the bubbles to die down before stirring in the cream and sea salt. This amount makes about 11/2 cups of caramel sauce. The sauce keeps well in the refrigerator for two or three days. Serve the sauce over the vanilla poached pears, gently reheated, or serve chilled.

The process in pictures...

C'est magnifique!

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The Hungry Mum link
12/5/2012 07:27:31 pm

How amazing is salted caramel sauce? I blogged Nigella's recipe which sounds identical to yours. Here's to yummy things!

Lizzy
12/5/2012 07:33:21 pm

Well hello there! See, I said salted butter caramel is popular! Actually I see the one that you posted... but it has golden syrup and also caster sugar. Whereas this good old recipe of mine uses twice the butter (naughty!!) and has brown sugar. I've been making it for decades. Love it!

Manu link
12/5/2012 09:29:32 pm

Ohhh yum! I am just like you... LOVE fruit based desserts and caramel! I adore pears and I believe that they go amazingly well with caramel! Great recipe and THANK you so much for the mention! I truly appreciate it! :-) Have a great evening Lizzy!

Lizzy
12/5/2012 11:37:55 pm

Manu, can I just tell you, I almost licked the screen when I read your Persian salt caramel sauce recipe. So delicious! Thank YOU for the inspiration, my friend. Love your work.

Fiona @ The Self-Raising Kitchen link
12/5/2012 11:31:10 pm

Another sensational looking recipe, Lizzy. I've passed this on to my sister who makes a delicious poached pear dessert herself. :-)

Lizzy
12/5/2012 11:38:20 pm

Hi Fiona, oh yum, do tell me more.... thanks for visiting, ; )

The Food Sage link
12/5/2012 11:43:56 pm

Miss Ovens - marvellous. I truly hope she didn't get married and change her name! Lovely post & recipe, Lizzy. I adore poached pears and will definitely give this little number a whirl. Thanks for sharing.

Lizzy
12/5/2012 11:52:32 pm

LOL, I know. And she was lovely, too. I adore poached pears too. Enjoy it, Rachel and make sure you lick the plate!

InTolerant Chef
13/5/2012 10:19:38 am

Ooooh lovely indeed, the cool silkiness of the pears wrapped in their warm blanket of caramel- yummo!

Lizzy
13/5/2012 08:51:43 pm

Oh, I love your description. Perfect!

Barbara link
13/5/2012 10:32:35 am

A delicios combination Lizzy. I love caramel sauce.

Lizzy
13/5/2012 08:52:00 pm

Barbara, thank you. So do I!!!

Thyme (Sarah) link
13/5/2012 02:08:24 pm

Those look amazing. I can just imagine one at each place setting for dessert and how pretty that would look. Caramel on pears....delicious combination.

Lizzy
13/5/2012 08:52:30 pm

Thank you... I do hope you will make them... they are pretty and very very delicious!

Jane @ Shady Baker link
13/5/2012 04:16:16 pm

Oh this looks incredible Lizzy and sounds fairly easy to prepare, this is one I will try! I have a young pear tree which is just having its first little pear crop. It is a late harvesting winter variety and it be interesting to see how it performs.

Lizzy
13/5/2012 08:53:04 pm

Jane, how delightful.. your own pear tree which is providing you with its first crop! Wow.

Mandy - The Complete Cook Book link
13/5/2012 08:49:52 pm

Another fantastic recipe - the pears look very moreish.
:-) Mandy

Lizzy
13/5/2012 08:53:32 pm

Mandy, thanks so much! Enjoy!

Thanks everyone for stopping by xoxoxo

muppy link
13/5/2012 10:25:34 pm

It looks delicious Lizzy! i think i may just have to try it, bought some beautiful pears at the markets on the weekend that would suit this perfectly. and lol - miss ovens!

Lizzy
15/5/2012 12:48:39 am

Oh, perfect Muppy! But try it with simple baked apples too... no fuss, just simply baked apple with nothing but the caramel sauce. Yum!

Zoe link
14/5/2012 02:45:32 pm

Totally agree with you...This dessert is simply beautiful. Simple is good!

Lizzy
15/5/2012 12:48:59 am

Thanks Zoe! Thanks very much ; )

Heather link
14/5/2012 05:46:46 pm

I LOVE the look of this, Lizzy. Thanks so much for sharing. Perfect for the increasingly cold days!

Lizzy
15/5/2012 12:49:21 am

Heather, thank you. Hope you will give it a try! Thanks for visiting.

Kitchen Butterfly link
14/5/2012 08:33:55 pm

It looks wonderful. I love salted caramel. I love poached pears and I heart Vanilla.

Lizzy
15/5/2012 12:51:44 am

Ah, a cook after my own heart, I see!

Celia link
15/5/2012 09:29:01 am

Really truly magnifique, Lizzy! I adore the specks of vanilla over the pear, and that first photo of yours is to die for!

Lizzy
15/5/2012 09:38:24 am

Celia, thank you. Grab a dessertspoon and dig in!

Anna @ The Littlest Anchovy link
15/5/2012 12:52:56 pm

Yummo! I made this recently (didn't blog it as ate it before photographing!) with Nigellas recipe but I think I like the butter content of yours muuuch better.

Lizzy
15/5/2012 02:56:28 pm

Great minds, Anna. I can believe that it didn't last long. Caramel sauce is delicious. I hadn't actually seen Nigella Lawson's recipe until someone mentioned it. Will all due and kind respect to Nigella, I have been making this version of the sauce long before Nigella became famous, LOL.

Laura (Tutti Dolci) link
15/5/2012 05:12:01 pm

Ooh, I'm certainly drooling over these pears! The salted butter caramel sauce looks perfect for eating by the spoonful!

Lizzy
15/5/2012 10:21:30 pm

Oh dear, indeed it is, Laura... sooooooooooooo delicious!

ChopinandMysaucepan link
16/5/2012 03:51:38 pm

Dear Lizzy,

I love your photos showing the entire process but the last one with those little specs of vanilla is awesome!

Lizzy
16/5/2012 03:58:48 pm

Dear Chopinand

Thank you! That is very kind of you. I was pleased with those images too... you can even see the little teeth marks in the pears, made by my wonderful stainless steel peeler!!!

Gabriella link
20/5/2012 11:09:55 pm

This was so simple and SO delicious! I changed the vanilla sugar to raw sugar and the brown sugar to panela so I was using organic and less refined sugars. Turned out perfectly and husband has now also used the left over caramel sauce to top his gelato with! Thanks for the wonderful recipe.

Lizzy
20/5/2012 11:16:59 pm

Gabriella, how wonderful! I am interested to know more about panela... this is a new food to me. I am so delighted that you tried my recipe, found it turned out perfectly and, better yet, loved it! Enjoy and thank you for your support. : )

Jennifer link
22/5/2012 12:05:50 pm

Oh my Lizzy, those pears look divine!!!! Pears and salted caramel - it doesn't get any better in my opinion!

Lizzy
30/5/2012 04:11:38 pm

Thanks Jennifer! Very kind of you xo

simple sustenance link
20/6/2012 10:09:11 am

These pears look delicious! Sweet and salty, always a winner! Thanks for sharing.

Lizzy
26/11/2013 06:22:38 pm

Why, thank you so much!

Andrea Butler
29/5/2014 11:00:07 pm

oh Liz, you inspire me again, how absolutely fabulous x

Viviane link
31/5/2014 12:44:33 am

Ah Liz, you had me at pear and caramel :)
Love that combination. Wish I could eat pears!
Gorgeous shots too. The photos are lovely, really captures the lusciousness of the dish!

foodwanderings link
1/6/2014 11:37:12 pm

Sheer delightfulness. The color the flavors and the post. It's amazing to see you tried so many versions of caramel and now I am curious what's a Russian one?!

Barbara | Creative Culinary link
5/6/2014 06:14:36 am

Looks fantastic Lizzy; gorgeous photo!

Vaughan
9/8/2015 12:56:52 am

If you want to make it with 4 pears , do you also need to double all your ingredients or just simply add 2 extra pears ?

Lizzy
9/8/2015 02:17:07 am

Vaughan... the caramel sauce ingredients makes a good quantity of sauce... so just add the two extra pears.... then again, it's never a bad thing to have leftover caramel sauce, right? : )

Vaughan
11/8/2015 10:07:39 pm

Cheers Lizzy ,gunna give it a crack tomorrow night , thanks.

Vaughan
18/8/2015 10:57:52 pm

Those pears were an awesome success , the recipe quantities were fine for 4 pears , in fact I saved the poaching liquid and did some more the following night ha ha , however the caramel sauce was lucky to survive till then as I couldn't walk past it without dipping a finger in . Cheers for the great recipe

Lizzy
19/8/2015 12:34:53 am

My absolute pleasure, Vaughan. Thank you kindly for the feedback : )

Tess
1/5/2016 12:55:12 pm

Just made this, and it couldn't have been easier! I've never made a caramel sauce this way before but it turned out amazing!! (Note: I didn't have heavy cream on hand, so I used a tin of Nestle dessert cream and it worked just fine. Thanks!

Lizzy
1/5/2016 01:02:27 pm

Tess, thank you for that lovely feedback! So glad you liked my recipe x

denise
18/3/2017 01:28:29 pm

gonna try this for sunday pudding tomorrow 19th march.

Eliska
21/11/2018 09:19:01 am

Hi,

I would like to try this recipe. Over the weekend as it looks absolutely divine!!

Can I made it night before and reheat the pears and caramel sauce before serving?

Thank you 😊

Lizzy
21/11/2018 04:06:41 pm

Hi, yes. Gently.


Comments are closed.

    Welcome...

    Üdvözölöm
    Photo of Liz Posmyk, Food Writer, Cook and Traveller

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