Stewed pears in mulled wine

Day 2 and step 2 to a festive dinner: chicken stock, pears stewed in mulled wine, caramelized onions (Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food). The pears are refined. I had this at Oleandri's last Sunday. She read aloud the recipe over the phone so I could make them myself. We each worked with a different kind of pear, but they were from our mothers' gardens.

8 small pears or 4 big ones (a variety for stewing)
300 ml red wine (not more)
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 teaspoon sirop de Liège (pear/apple syrup - stroop)
2 tablespoons balsamico vinegar
juice of 2 limes (or 1 lemon)
100 g sugar (ever strict, I halved that: only 50 g !)
peel of 1 orange

Combine all ingredients except the pears. Bring them to a boil over low heat.

Meanwhile, peel the pears, remove cores, and quarter them.

Add pears to the liquid, and stew for about an hour until done. Let them cool in the liquid.

Even better the next day with some vanilla ice cream.

Pollachius virens, hot and smoky

I cook to sustain myself, I mused while munching on mixed greens in the setting sun. Just as I was about to see this quote writ in stone, it crumbled from an overdose of sérieux and a depletion of laughs. So good I didn't tweet that.

Instead I remembered what great fun I get from cooking simple things in no time. All I needed here were a bunch of fava beans and two fillets of fish. MSC labelled, mind you. On some issues rigor still wins out.


Pollachius virens,* hot and smoky

Based on Peter Coucquyt's method in Hoe bereid ik vis (how to prepare fish) of stewing fish in the oven.

2 fillets of white fish (*koolvis, coley, coalfish or pollock)
olive oil
2-4 scallions, chopped
1 sip of noilly prat (vermouth)
1 sip of white wine (or replace alcohol with water)
Fava beans, freshly cooked and shelled
chipotle chilli

Preheat the oven at 220 °C.

Stew the scallions in olive oil, then add the vermouth, reduce somewhat. Then add the white wine, reduce the liquid again.

Season the fish fillets on the skin side with salt and pepper.

Move the fish fillets to an oven dish, pour the scallions and sauce over them, season with chipotle chilli, and place in the oven for about 6 minutes covered, with some paper over them. Check for doneness.

Notes:
Roll fillets for fancy effect.
Chipotle chilli my good call.
Check fish after removing from the oven. My coalfish needed a few minutes longer. Before putting back in the oven I added the fava beans which were quickly reheated this way.
Extra: season with fresh herbs (parsley or cilantro) if at hand.