One of TM's friends ended up with a bumper crop of quince this year, so they've been sharing the bounty. And we got extra bonus pears along with our quince!
I have plans for the quince that should hopefully appear on the blog shortly. I actually debated doing up a simple poached quince dessert after dinner tonight. But the pears needed to be used more urgently, so I decided to start there.

I have a lot of pear recipes awaiting testing. But this one had the virtue of being very quick and easy to put together and only needing three pears, which, conveniently, was the exact number we were given. It is also delicious!

The original recipe acutally went for an almond theme. The pears were drizzled with amaretto and topped with toasted sliced almonds after roasting. I didn't have any amaretto, but I did have a bottle of Frangelico in the pantry. And I figured that pear and hazelnut is also a good combo. So I just swapped out the liqueur and replaced the almonds with chopped toasted hazelnuts. It worked very well, if I do say so myself!

Roasted Pears with Honey, Hazelnuts, and Greek Yogurt

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 3 pears¹
• 1/3 c. honey
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
• 2 Tbsp. Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
• 1 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Peel, halve, and core the pears.
3. Bring the honey and bay leaves to a boil over medium heat.
4. Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
5. Place the butter pieces evenly spaced in the pan and place a pear half, cut-side-down, on top of each one.
6. Cover and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 12 minutes.
7. Carefully flip pears over and baste with sauce.
8. Drizzle with Frangelico and return to oven.
9. Roast, uncovered, at 190°C (375°F) until pears are tender (~10 minutes).
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly (10-15 minutes).
11. Place two pear halves in a bowl and drizzle with a little sauce.
12. Top with ~1/2 c. of yogurt, ~1 Tbsp. of hazelnuts, and a bit more sauce and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for 3 "ripe but firm" bosc pears. I'm not sure what variety we were given, but they definitely weren't bosc. They looked a bit like anjou, but I don't know my pears well enough to say for sure. Specifics aside, they were excellent in this application! So, personally, I wouldn't worry too much about what specific type of pears you have as long as they're good ones. ^Back