Looking for a more grown-up take on the classic crumble, try this cracking fusion of red wine poached pears and a almond-crumble top. It’s got a fantastic flavour (the red wine adds a really beautiful complexity) and look stunning. You also get the pageantry of pouring this amazing deep red wine cooking liquor over the crumble at the table when you serve. It can also be made in advance and just cooked when you need to.

Red Wine Poached Pear Crumble

Prep Time: 30 Mins

Cook Time: 4 Hours

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • Pears - 8

  • Red Wine - 1 Bottle

  • Sugar - 100g

  • Cinnamon Sticks - 2

  • Vanilla Pod - 1

For the Crumble

  • Golden Caster Sugar - 200g

  • Almond Flour - 100g

  • Flour - 300g

  • Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (250g) room temperature

Method

Poached Pear Crumble Step One - the Long Cook

Pre-heat the oven to 120°C (140°C for non-fan ovens).

Get a large pan that has a lid and can go in the oven. Add the wine, 100g of sugar, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla pod to it and stir together.

Peel two of the pears (leaving the stems) and place in the red wine mixture on their side. Then peel the remaining pears, quarter them, remove and discard the seeds / cores, and also add to the red wine mix.

Place on the hob and bring to the boil. Place a lid on top, and put in the oven for 3 hours (turning the pears upside-down halfway through cooking).

 

Poached Pear Crumble Step Two - Poached

Once the pears are poached and have taken on the colour / flavour of the wine, discard the cinnamon sticks and pour most (around three quarters) of the red wine cooking liquid into a separate small pot.

Gently remove the two whole pears and add to the small pot with the cooking liquid, remove the vanilla pod, cut it in half lengthways, scrap out the vanilla seeds and also add to the pot. Set aside for later.

In the original large pan (the one with the pear quarters still in it) slightly crush the pear quarters, still leaving nice big chunks of the pears. Set aside for later.

 

Poached Pear Crumble STEP Three - Crumbling

To make the crumble add the flour, almond flour, and golden caster sugar to a large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the bowl.

Using you hands, rub the flour into the butter passing it in-between your fingertips, keep doing this until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (it’s okay to still have some small lumps of butter, it’ll help differentiate the texture).

 

Poached Pear Crumble STEP Four - Topping it Off

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C (210°C for non-fan ovens).

Pour the crumble mix over the crushed poached pears in, levelling out to fully cover the fruit.

Place in oven for 30-40 minutes until golden and crispy.

When the crumble is nearly done, place the pot with the whole pears /cooking liquor in, on the hob (with a lid on) and heat on low to warm the pear / cooking liquid.

 

Poached Pear Crumble STEP Five - Poached Pear Crumble

Serve the crumble at the table topped with one of the pears (you can cut the other remaining whole pear in half so that when people serve themselves each person gets half a poached pear), transfer the cooking liquor to a jug and pour the over the pear / crumble at the table.

And that’s it, hope you enjoy!