"Poached" Wild Mice

When Bron announced the new Wild Food event, I was truly intrigued! It just sounded so much fun. I looked around in the refrigerator and rummaged for what potentially could resemble a reptile, and found these pears waiting to be ahem, "poached" ;)

I started poaching the pears in wine and then arranged them to look all pretty (erm..), took some pictures, and all of a sudden it hit me that arghhh, mice are NOT reptiles, but mammals! Well, they ARE usually eaten BY reptiles but are not really reptiles themselves!

So now I had these poached pears that tasted really good (what with them being steeped in wine and spices), I decided to go ahead and post the recipe. Do you think I can get away with saying that this was my take on the reptilian theme, where this is wild food fed to the reptiles ;). Oh well, I still love the wild food event idea, so will surely participate next time hopefully with the right entry!

Poached Pear Mice
Ingredients
1. 3 red or pears peeled and halved (don't cut the tail)
2. 1 cup red wine
3. 1/2 cup sugar or 1/4 cup honey
4. A spice pouch consisting of 1 stick cinnamon and 2 cloves. I usually just put these in a muslin cloth, and tie it tight
5. 6 cloves & 1 cup peas for decoration

Method
1. Heat sauce pan on medium heat. Add the wine to the heated pan
2. To this add the spice pouch. Add the sugar/honey and stir
3.When the mixture starts boiling, reduce heat and remove the spice pouch
4. Add the pears and let them cook till they are soft but not mushy to touch
5. Let cool. Use 2 cloves per mouse as eyes
6. Drizzle remaining wine-spice-honey syrup on top of the poached pears
7. Serve on a bed of green peas or something green to bring out the paleness of the mice..err pears

Enjoy :)