Wine-braised pears

Because Thanksgiving dinner is full of stodgy main courses, sides, and desserts (ahem, see below), I wanted to make something that would contrast with the usual--in a good way. Whether these pears are a side dish or a dessert is up to you.

Ingredients
6 Bosc firm bosc pears
5-inch stick of cinnamon, cut into about five pieces
1 t whole cloves
1 T vanilla
Almost an entire bottle of dry red wine (I used Merlot)
1 c white sugar
3-4 T lemon juice

Preparation
1. Pour wine, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and vanilla into a large stockpot (preferably one that is tall but not too large in diameter).
2. While you are bringing the mixture to a boil (making sure the sugar is dissolved and doesn't burn), peel the pears. I didn't peel mine completely, but the more skin you get off, the prettier the jewel-tone will be at the end.
3. As soon as the liquid is boiling, turn the heat down.

Now, at this point you have a choice. I cut the bottoms off of the pears--just enough so that they would stand up straight--and placed them in the pot. Unfortunately, the liquid didn't reach all the way up to the stem and after half an hour of braising, only about 3/4 of each pear had that nice, purple tone. I ended up having to flip them over for the last fifteen minutes just to get the color even, negating the whole point of the bottom-removal and straight-uppedness.

I recommend instead that you:

4. Cut the pears in half, lengthwise, and de-seed them with a melon-baller or a spoon.
5. Place them in the liquid in whatever orientation allows as many of them as possible to be covered with the spiced wine.

Then:
6. Cover the pot and bring everything to a very gentle boil.
7. Allow the pears to cook, covered, for about an hour.

What you're watching for is tenderness and that deep, royal color, but you don't want to cook anything so long that you end up with pearsauce.

8. Remove the pears and put them on a serving dish.
9. Take excess liquid and reduce it to approximately 1 cup of liquid, until a syrup forms.
10. Pour the syrup over your pears.

I added some of the extra toasted hazelnuts from the Gratin to the top of my pears, but there's no real need for that. In fact, if I could sprinkle anything on top it would probably be a gentle dusting of toasted pecans and a very, very small amount of gorgonzola or sharp cheddar cheese. The point of this recipe though, is to be as cheeseless and fruity as possible, so... well, if I ever add the cheese, I will do it in secret.

Green Bean Vinaigrette Salad

300 ml Red Wine Vinegar
50 ml Olive Oil
1 Large Red Onion
1 Bunch Shallots
1 lb Green Beans
Salt
Pepper

1. With skin still on the onion, wrap it in tin foil and bake at 450˚ for one hour.
2. While onion is baking, reduce vinegar to 150 ml.
3. Bring a pot of water to boil, and blanch cleaned and de-stemmed green beans for five to six minutes.
4. Add olive oil to reduced vinegar.
5. Chop shallots into small rings and add them to the vinegar-oil mixture.
6. Remove onion from oven. While still warm, peel and cut into large chunks. Place onion in vinegar and oil.
7. Let sit in fridge to cool for a while. When cool, add green beans.
8. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill overnight for the best flavor!