Poached Pears & Chocolate Sauce

I must apologise for the somewhat shorter and rushed blogs of the last few days, but the baby kittens take up a LOT of my time !

And I'm exhausted !

So... here is a very old favourite that my Mother adored and made now and then...

Poached Pears and Chocolate Sauce

4 Pears (peeled, halved and cored)
1 litre (4 cups in the US) Water
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Vanilla Bean (halved longways)
4 ozs (1/2 cup) White Sugar
7 ozs Dark Chocolate (chopped roughly)
4.5 fl ozs (1/2 cup or 125ml) Double Cream

1. Put the pears, cinnamon, water, vanilla bean and sugar into a saucepan.

2. Stir gently over medium heat until the sugar is melted.

3. Bring to the boil, then simmer, covered, for around 8 minutes, or under the pears become tender.

4. Drain. You don't need to keep the liquid.... unless you can think of a use for it.

5. Mix the chocolate and cream in a small saucepan.

6. Stir it over a low gentle heat for about 5 minutes until it is smooth and irresistible...

7. Pour the chocolate cream over the pears to serve.

Tomorrow I am going to post my old Bread and Butter Pudding, and a bit about a farmer with a difference at the Kinvara Farmer's Market...