Holiday week is upon us! The end of year drives us in herds to our families, and I thought it high time to pay a visit to the online family too.
I come bearing pears!
Now, some people don’t like fruit in their food, especially if it’s a hot meal. I, however, adore it! And in order to convince more people of the taste yields of these fruitful endeavours (apple sauce, pears, pineappel, peaches, apricots, …), I decided to dedicate this festive edition to palatable, pleasing pears.

This is actually a family recipe. My father always adds some oranges and lemon juice to his pears, and I simply added thyme. You throw them in when the pears are still cooking and wait for that christmas mircale to happen.
Poached pears with thyme
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 8 servings
Ingredients
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4 teaspoon(s) of sugar
2 teaspoon(s) of thyme (dried)
2 teaspoon(s) of lemon juice
1 orange
6 pear(s) (+- 1kg)
4 teaspoon(s) of sugar
2 teaspoon(s) of thyme (dried)
2 teaspoon(s) of lemon juice
1 orange
6 pear(s) (+- 35 oz.)
Preparation
Peel the pears.
Cut the pears in quarters.
Remove the core.
Cut the quarters in half (lengthwise).
Combine all pears in a pan and add the sugar.
Add a little bit of water to keep them from burning.
Turn on a medium heat (you want the pears to simmer lightly).
(Add some extra water if you feel there's not enough in there to keep them from burning)
Section the orange and add it to the pears.
Squeeze all juice out of the leftover orange parts and add it to the pears.
Add the lemon juice.
Add the thyme.
Let simmer until the pears are soft.
Tips
Don't know how to section an orange? Have a look at this tutorial.