Boozy poached pears with caramel and meringue

This weekend was cold and wet in the 'Berra. No matter. All the better for staying inside and cooking. Especially cooking with alcohol. Tim walked in after a trip to the hardware store and was just about overcome by the heady fragrance of cinnamon, orange and sweet wine wafting through the entire house. I couldn't get him out of the kitchen after that! 

This dessert was inspired by a very posh version that I saw in a magazine, made of ingredients I've never heard of. This is my version and it worked well. While it's cooking it sort of smells like Christmas and then it looks classy and tastes gorgeous. As with most of what I cook, it's really simple too so don't let the different components put you off.

Caramel

395g can sweetened condensed milk.

So simple!!! Take the label off the can and pierce two small holes in the top of the tin. Then put the tin in a small pan and fill with water until about 1cm from the top. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a vigorous simmer. Remember to top the pan up with boiling water every so often. Let it simmer for about 3-4 hours and you should get a lovely thick caramel. Let the can cool for a bit, remove the caramel and refridgerate. Mine could have been thicker, but I didn't leave it long enough. 

Pears

2 medium sized pears, peeled and cored if you can. Leave the stems on. (you could actually fit two more in the pan and use the same amount of syrup ingredients, but it was just Tim and me and I didn't want to waste so we had leftover syrup instead.)

Syrup

2 cups water 

1/4 cup caster sugar + 2 tbsp extra

1/2 cup sweet wine (or you could use sherry)

1 cinnamon stick

2 strips of orange peel

Put all the ingredients in a pan, except for 2 tbsp caster sugar. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently. Place the pears in the pan, cover and simmer for about an hour. They should not be mushy! If the pan lid won't fit on the pears without pressing down on the stems, put a large bowl over the top - I actually used the rice-cooker bowl. 

When done, remove the pears, orange peel and cinnamon stick, put in the extra sugar and boil down until it's a little bit thicker. You can add another splash of wine or sherry if you want to. Let it cool a little bit before using. 

Meringue

1 egg white

1/4 cup almond meal

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp corn flour

1 pinch salt

Put the egg white into a small bowl and beat with an electric mixer until it starts getting stiff. Then slowly add the sugar, corn flour and salt and beat until very stiff. With a wooden spoon, very gently fold in the almond meal. Take your time and don't slap the air out of the egg whites.

On a piece of  baking paper, mark out two circles with pencil. Turn the paper over and onto a baking tray so you can still see the marks. Lightly dust with corn flour - I use a pastry brush. Halve the mixture between the circles and spread until even. Cook for about 15 minutes in a low-ish oven - I used 150ºC fan forced.

To assemble: 

On a plate, put the meringue circle down and top with a small amount of caramel. Place the pear gently on top, and spoon over some of the syrup. Garnish with strips of orange zest. 

If this isn't enough sugar for you or your guests, place a small bowl of the caramel and one of the syrup nearby for people to help themselves.