Poached pears with a rich suchard chocolate sauce. This traditional french dessert is lip-smacking delicious and easy to make. A fine sprinkle of orange zest makes it truly memorable. Try it today.

Ingredients

For Poached Pears

• 6 medium sized Pears
• Sugar Syrup (made with 600 ml water and 115 grams sugar)
• 1 Vanilla Pod (split)
• 4 lumps of Sugar
• 1 Orange

For Chocolate Suchard Sauce

• 170 grams Block Chocolate (roughly grated)
• 285 millilitres Water
• 85 grams Granulated Sugar

Method

To Poach the Pears

1. Prepare the syrup in a shallow pan.
2. Peel the pears and core them from the bottom side.
3. Lift them into the syrup.
4. Add the vanilla pod.
5. Grate a little of the orange zest into the pan.
6. Cover the pan and poach gently for 30 minutes.Allow to cool in the syrup.

To Make the Chocolate Suchard Sauce

1. Add the chocolate and water to a pan.
2. Simmer gently until the chocolate is dissolved.
3. Add the granulated sugar.
4. Simmer without a lid until the chocolate sauce is syrupy and will coat the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from the heat.
6. Rub the sugar lumps over the orange until they are well coated with the oil from the zest.
7. Stir in the sugar lumps and allow the chocolate to simmer.
8. As soon as the chocolate sauce starts to boil, remove it from the heat.
9. Pour the sauce from the pan and allow it to cool.

To serve

Drain the pears thoroughly and dish them up.

Coat with the suchard sauce.

Just before serving, decorate with a small amount of orange zest.