poached pears in wine... with chocolate

The clearance cart came through again, this time with a dozen ripe Bosc pears.

• Cut off the bottom so they'll stand up, peel and core with a melon baller/teaspoon/paring knife.
• In a nonreactive pan, place the pears in 2-3 cups of wine (I used white), 1 cup sugar, (a big strip of lemon zest, a few whole cloves, a cinnamon stick, orange juice,...) and add water to just cover the pears. Bring to a simmer and poach the fruit for about 20 minutes.
• Remove the fruit and allow to cool. Reduce the poaching liquid to a nice syrupy consistency (remember that it thickens as it cools). This takes a while.

Now, the pears are great at this point. Just eat them with that syrup. Or...

• Melt a few ounces of good chocolate.
• Stir in mascarpone cheese, some liqueur (Amaretto last night), a tiny pinch of salt and sugar to taste.
• Stuff the pears with this just before serving.

You could also make a ganache using heavy cream instead of the cheese or make it more "chocolate cheesecakey" by using cream cheese.