gently poached wild pears in a lemon verbena simple syrup

You might remember a few weeks ago I was gifted some semi-wild pears , which, at the time, were grainy and hard, and I was clueless what to do with them. So they faded away in the fruit bowl, and then, again, I was gifted with the more mature and juicy pears last week. Just a week or two made a huge difference - when peeled, these darlings were juicy and plump. Having had my bedside reading a glorious, full color herbery book, I decided to try poaching these with lemon verbena leaves. My lemon verbena is counting her days til frost and death, so I clipped a few twigs with long leaves, and infused them in a light simple syrup. A few squeezes of lemon juice, and a sprinkling of sugar made for a light infusion. And how did it go? Beautiful. And so delicate, even my two and a half year old granddaughter ( a true foodie in training), came back again and again to finish off her four half pears, submerged in lemon verbena syrup. I also tried them with mint, (thumbs down, surprisingly), and the last of the fresh basil ( not half bad), but I loved the verbena the best. Just try not to overdo - the lemon verbena is strong!

How to:

It depends on how many pears you have. I had three pears to play with - I peeled them, and cored them, giving me six halves.

I brought to a simmer about 1 1/2 cups water - enough to cover the halves.

I then added 2 tablespoons of sugar, and about 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to hold off the browning.

I then added a small branch of lemon verbena leaves.

I turned off the heat, and slipped the 6 pear halves into the infusion for about 15 minutes.

I pulled the pear halves, covered with the infusion juice minus the lemon verbena leaves, and placed in a covered plastic container for the trip to visit my granddaughter. Of course, I had to try them - so there went 2 halves!

As I set out Izzie's lunch, she went immediately for the pears - which doesn't surprise me, since she's a fruit freak. I had brought along a fresh pear, which I peeled and cored, and quartered - just in case the lemon verbena was too strong. She tasted, she questioned, she finished every single one of the poached pears.

I think this might be lovely with a little Greek yogurt and some strong honey drizzled on top with a little pinch of lemon verbena leaves on top........