Yuletide Wishes with a Stewed Pear Variant

Merry Christmas! Especially for readership from Down Under here's a variant I cooked yesterday during our Christmas Eve pot luck family meal: stewed pear, presented in halves, filled with cranberry compote. It was received well by some young and picky eaters.

Try to use pears that are inedible, best used for stewing. I used some that my mother had picked from her own tree at peril of falling into a ditch. I had them in my cellar since mid October and they were still okay. It was mother's proud contribution to the meal.

Pears, deseeded, peeled, cut in halves
a little water
a little sugar
a little butter
spices from my sister's cupboard: cinnamon powder, 1/2 vanilla bean pod (I had forgotten to bring star anise, see my previous post on stewed pear)

Put the pear halves flat side down in a cooking pot, add the water, and bring to a high boil. When boiling, add the sugar, the spices, and reduce the heat a little bit, let this cook for some time until the pears are soft. When the pears are taking some pinkish color and the water is somewhat reduced, add the butter so as to caramelize the juices very slightly. This can be done beforehand and right before the meal everything can be reheated. Fill with cranberry compote (prepared by following package instructions - also with sugar and water). Serve one filled half on each plate.

I was two hours late for meal preparations, which nearly had my brother-in-law into some serious Christmas stress, as he later admitted. But we sailed through the preparations with even keel and were done in no time.
See next post for details on our Christmas menu.