Poached pears in honey-ginger syrup with cinnamon

Ingredients:

Pears

• 1 bottle (750 ml) of Muscat or other sweet dessert wine
• 2 cups simple syrup, recipe below
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 2 cm ginger root, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise
• 6 small firm Anjou pears, peeled
• For servingvanilla ice cream or gelato

Simple sugar syrup

• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp of water

Preparation:

1. In a saucepan large enough to hold all the pears, combine the wine, sugar syrup, cinnamon stick halves, honey, and ginger. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add the bean and seeds to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the honey has melted. Add the pears and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Remove the pears from the liquid and let them cool.
2. Continue simmering until the liquid thickens and reduces by half, about 15-20 minutes. Cool to room temperature. Remove the cinnamon stick halves and vanilla bean and discard.
3. Place each pear on a small serving plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with honey-ginger syrup. Serve immediately.
   
   Simple sugar syrup:
   
   In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and heat over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and let the syrup cool.
   Exit: 2 and 3/4 tbsp.