​Pears Belle Helene

This is a dessert I used to share with my friend Jean-Gab when he lived next door to me. He had the smallest kitchen I've ever seen (still had a gas stovetop though!) so we usually cooked simple recipes for dinner. ​

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Pears:
1 cup sugar
1 cup white wine
3 cups water
zest of one orange, cut into 1" x 3" strips
1 cinnamon stick
8 whole cloves
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 pears, preferably slightly underripe Boscs, peeled

Chocolate sauce:
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup liqueur of choice
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
8 oz semisweet chocolate chips

vanilla ice cream

To poach the pears, combine all the ingredients and bring to boil. Add the pears and simmer for 20 minutes or so, until tender. Remove from the poaching liquid and chill until cool. 

Combine the heavy cream, liqueur, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips until melted and smooth. 

Serve a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream alongside the pear, and drizzle liberally with chocolate sauce. 

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