Poached pears in spiced red wine

This week's cold weather requires not only a hearty winter dish, but also a sweet one. If there is one dessert I associate with this time of year, it is poached pears in red wine. Last Tuesday, as the fruits were simmering on the stove, the whole kitchen filled with a lovely Christmassy scent of cinnamon, star anise, cloves and orange peel. Spellbound, I felt the need of making Christmas presents and I took up my knitting needles to make something for my family while listening to some jazzy music. Is there anything better than staying indoors, curled up on the sofa feeling cozy, when it is cold and cloudy outside? Nothing, except for sitting in my sunny garden in summer... Last week I bought a 2kg bag of little cooking pears and decided I would poach them and serve them as a dessert when my brother and parents would come to dinner. I have only poached pears two times before, because I never had a proper pot in which I could cook a big amount of them and it seems a bit of a waste of time to make only a few pears as they eat away much too easily. This time I used a recipe by Martha Stewart (www.marthastewart.com/339823/poached-pears) which I altered only slightly. I served the pears with an improvised semolina pudding made with hazelnut milk and it was very nice, if I may say so myself! Ingredients, serves 5-6 - 2kg of little cooking pears, I used Gieser Wildeman and there were 20 one bag) - 1 bottle of red wine - 100g of sugar - 2 whole cloves - 1 star anise - a strip of orange peel - a strip of lemon peel - 1 cinnamon stick - 1 bay leaf Peel the pears, leaving the stalks on, and arrange them in a big pot. Add all the other ingredients and enough water to cover the pears. Cover, bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes while occasionally stirring, until you can easily pierce the fruits with a knife. Remove the pot from heat and let the pears cool in their liquid. Transfer the pears to a plate, using a slotted spoon, and set aside. Place the pot with the wine over medium high heat (I didn't bother to remove all the spices, why would I?) and cook until the liquid has thickened a bit. You can choose for yourself how thick you want the syrup to be. Martha Stewart says it should cook for 45 minutes and hers is probably very thick, but I like my syrup to be not so syrupy, so I waited only 20 minutes. After that, I poured the liquid over the pears and let them cool. Make sure you wet them with the syrup again just before serving, using a spoon, because it will give them an extra strong red colour and a delicious look. Enjoy!