Thursday, January 15, 2009

Honey Roasted Pear with Various Cheeses

This dish has been designed to be a tasty and easy dish to make with pantry ingredients and any kind of pear regardless of ripeness. It can be served as an appetizer or as a light dessert. The delicate flavor of the pear is made more intense in the roasting process and is further augmented with the honey. Depending on the type of cheese that you choose, you can create a whole range of textural and flavor combinations. You can even combine different cheeses or add a sauce or chutney to this to add even more interest. One of the steps is also optional if you are pressed for time, scared, or don't have a broiler. The pictures differ slightly from the written directions as a better process was discovered after the pictures were taken.

Rinse, Halve, and Core 2 pears, in this case D'Anjou


Toss the pears with a little olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and add the pears to an oven safe roasting vessel cut side down.


Roast the pears in a 350 degree oven for 20 - 30 minutes or until they are browned and soft but not falling apart.

Make a mixture of Honey and Olive Oil and coat the Pears with it before Broiling



Top with your favorite white cheese, in this case they are each topped differently. One has Brie, one has Gorgonzola, one has Goat Cheese and one has all three.


General
Serves 4 as an appetizer or dessert
Total Time: 30 - 45 minutes depending on ripeness of pears and oven accuracy.
If you are omitting the broiling phase, add the Honey Olive Oil mixture before the Initial Roasting.

Ingredients
2 D'Anjou pears (rinsed, halved and cored) or which ever look good or you have
2 tbsp Honey
Olive Oil as needed
Kosher Salt to taste
Preferred Cheese, or refer to this list for examples

Written Instructions
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and move one oven rack to middle setting and another to the top "broiler" setting.
  • Rinse halve and core 2 pears.
  • Lightly coat the Pears with Olive Oil sprinkle with salt and add cut side down to oven safe roasting pan.
  • Roast in the preheated oven for 20 - 30 minutes or until the pears are golden and lightly browned.
  • Remove from the pan from the oven and place or a trivet on your counter top.
  • While the Pears are cooling slightly, Whisk the Honey with just enough Olive Oil to help the honey loosen up and become more spreadable.
  • Flip the Pears cut side up and lightly coat with the Olive Oil Honey mixture.
  • Turn the oven up to broil and place the pears back into the oven on the "broiler" rack.
  • Broil briefly to brown the Pears, and caramelize the Honey.
  • Remove the pan from the oven, turn off oven and move the Pears to a platter.
  • Top with your favorite cheese taking care to add an appropriate amount. More is not always better, you should be able to taste the Pear.
  • Get down.

4 comments:

  1. This sounds tasty and not too difficult. It's interesting that it could be served as an appetizer or dessert, you don't hear that too often.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mainly with just fruit and cheese based things. Dessert does not always have to be really sweet.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would enjoy eating this for every meal for the rest of my days.

    ReplyDelete