Poached Pear

2 pears, halved and cored but not peeled
4oz/115ml apple juice
4oz/115ml water
1 cinnamon stick
6 cloves
2 dates, stones removed, thinly sliced
4 tsp natural yogurt
Cinnamon or nutmeg
Trim a small slice from the round side of the pear halves so they will lie flat, cut side up. Place pears in a small frying pan or saucepan.
Add apple juice, water, cinnamon stick, and cloves. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer gently for about 5-10min until the pears are just tender, but not mushy or overcooked. Remove pears to a serving dish and keep warm.
Add the dates to the juices in the pan and boil for 5 min, uncovered.
Spoon the yogurt into the pear core holes and spoon the sauce over all. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg if desired and serve warm or chilled.

These were from The Vegetarian Times Cookbook.
We had some pears that were about to go bad, so I took a quick look to see if there was anything I could do with them. I found this recipe, but I didn’t have any dates. I figured I’d try it with figs instead, and I added a bit of honey too, because figs aren’t nearly as sweet as dates.

This was a valiant effort, but a big failure. Dates, when you boil them like this will mostly melt. I imagine the sauce would have been sticky and sweet and lovely. Figs stay in big chunks, and do very little to enhance any part of this. Also, they weren’t the best pears to begin with.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this was inedible, but I wouldn’t want to have to eat it again.
If I had used dates, and maybe a little red wine too, then I bet it would be great.

Not the recipe’s fault.