pear purée with star anise

pear purée with star anise

We were having roast pork for Sunday lunch and I had forgotten to get any apples to make the traditional accompanying sauce. What I did have was my own not inconsiderable body weight in windfall pears and needed any excuse to use them up. It occurred to me that aniseed flavours go well with pears and have an affinity with pork (and this pork was roasted with fennel seeds), so I decided on a simple sweet pear purée with a hint of star anise.

Skill level: Easy

ingredients:
c. 500g pears, peeled, cored and chopped
2-3 tbsp sugar
water
1 x star anise
juice of 1 x lemon
a knob of butter (optional)

directions:

1. Combine all the pears, sugar, a little water and the star anise. Bring to the boil. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the pears are soft. (I fished the star anise out after 5 minutes as I didn't want too strong an aniseed flavour).
2. Strain any excess liquid and purée the pear mixture.
3. This can be served cold, or reheat with a knob of butter stirred through.