Poached pears usually involve cooking them in a red wine dredged sugar syrup. While this might taste divine as a treat, I wanted to create something light that can be eaten regularly as a dessert, that is just healthy and not sugary. The star anise really lifts the flavour of the pear and the blueberries give it just a hint of blush.

Ingredients, serves 2

2 pears, cut in half
100ml water
4 star anise
2 teaspoons inulin syrup* or xylitol
50g blueberries

Method

1. Place the pears face down into a ceramic frying pan and add the water, star anise and inulin syrup. Pop on a lid and cook on a medium-low heat for 10 minutes. They should not be bubbling, but gently poaching.
   2. Add the blueberries to the pan and poach for a further 10 minutes.
   *inulin