Pink pears on a bed of rice

Ingredients

• 1 large can of pears in syrup (about 820 g), or 6 fresh ones
• 100 g sugar, for the syrup
• 250 ml water, for the syrup
• 200 g rice
• 2 tablespoons sugar, if needed
• 30 g cooked beet, for color

Missing an ingredient?

• What to use instead of rice
• What to use instead of sugar

Instructions

1. If the fruit is fresh, make a syrup by boiling the sugar with the water for 5 minutes, poach the peeled, halved fruit in it until tender but whole, about 5-10 minutes, and let it cool in the syrup. If it's canned, drain it and use its syrup instead of yours.
2. Rinse the rice very well, boil it until tender, drain it and let it cool and dry.
3. Drain the pears on a rack and let them dry for an hour. Taste the syrup and, if it isn't sweet enough, add the sugar.
4. Spread the rice in a glass dish, make a small well in the center and pour all the syrup into it, so it soaks the rice from below without staining the surface.
5. Grate the beet and press it in a strainer to get the juice. With a brush, paint the pears red with it.
6. Arrange the pear halves on the white rice, slanting, thick end down and stem end up. The author says that, red on snow-white rice, they look very pretty.

Nutrition facts

Approximate, per serving (about 256 g). Calculated with data from USDA FoodData Central.