Simple green salad with poached pears

I couldn't say I had ever poached a pear before this past Sunday. Boy, was I missing out! Poaching the pears was easy and delicious. They really classed up this simple salad of lettuce sprinkled with a little bit of blue cheese, but they would also be fabulous as a light dessert. This was definitely a guest impressing dish for very little work. Enjoy!

Simple green salad with poached pears by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

2 cups of red wine
2 Tbls. lime juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 stick of cinnamon
3 firm fleshed pears
Romaine lettuce
Blue cheese crumbles

Directions:

1. Place the wine, lime juice, sugar and cinnamon stick in a large saucepan and bring it to boil.
2. Halve your pears and remove the skin. Use a melon baller to scoop out the seeds and then run it along the inside middle to remove the core.
3. Once your liquid is boiling, place the pears into it. Turn down the heat until the liquid is just gently simmering. Simmer the pears for 4 minutes, then turn them over in the liquid and simmer for an additional 4 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat and leave the pears in the cooking liquid for 20 minutes.
5. Place a leaf or two of Romaine lettuce on each plate. Top with a poached pear and crumble some blue cheese on top. Voila!
6. To make it extra fancy, bring your poaching liquid back to a boil and boil for just a minute or two until it is a little syrupy. Drizzle a little of the syrup over the salad.