Poached Pears with Honey and Spice

I saw these little pears in the store the other day and I just had to do something with them.

Poached Pears with Honey and Spice

Adapted from: an old book I have of the Cordon Bleu
Serves 3 large portions or 6 small ones

Ingredients:
6 small pears
juice of half a lemon
500 ml water
250g granulated sugar
2 tbsp butter
40g honey
a pinch of nutmeg, allspice and cloves
2 pinches of cinnamon

Method:
Peel the pears and make sure to moisten each pear with some lemon juice so that they won't turn brown (leave their stem on, it's prettier that way). Cut them in half and remove the seeds, I used a parisian spoon, you can also use a knife, it's quite easy. Don't forget to moisten the part you cut with lemon juice!

Put both water and sugar in a medium sized sauce pan and bring to a simmer (make sure you stir once in a while, so that sugar lumps won't burn at the bottom). Immerse the pears in the simmering liquid and cook until they're soft - about 6 minutes. Replace onto a clean plate.

Heat the butter, honey and spice in a wide pan (that can host all of the pears with their faces down) and fry the pears for about 40 seconds on each side. Be careful not to burn the butter. Serve warm with a bit of the honey butter poured on top and some walnuts or ice cream. Yammm...............