Serves 4 or so
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/2 pounds slightly-under-ripe, fragrant, medium pears, peeled if desired, halved though the stem and cored
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Begin with 5 bartlett pears. Any kind of pear would probably do very well. Maybe next time I’ll try a foreign variety that is in season. If so, I’ll update the recipe here.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Peel and core the pears. Leaving the stems attached looks pretty, so I left them on if I had the chance.
Place the pears seed-side up in a shallow baking pan. I used glass, but ceramic coated or metal cookware would do just fine. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over them. Set lemon aside.
The original recipe calls for a whole vanilla bean (split open, scrape seeds into 1/2 cup sugar), which I didn’t have, so, I opted to split the sugar into two equal portions and add vanilla extract in between sprinkles. So…..Sprinkle 1/8 cup sugar over the pears, sprinkle pure vanilla extract in tiny drops over them, followed by the other 1/8 cup of sugar sprinkled over it all again.
Using a cold stick of butter, cut two slices about 1/4 inch thick, divided into 5 thin slivers. Place a sliver into each pear’s belly.
Add a few sprinkles of brown sugar and added the lemon to the pan before cooking.
Add a couple of teaspoons of water to the base of the pan before placing in the oven.
Baste the pears with the caramel sauce once or twice while they bake for half an hour.
Then, turn the pears over, baste them again and slide them back into the over for an additional 25 minutes.
Finally, take them from the over and allow them to sit for about 5 minutes. The sauce, which has begun to caramelize, will thicken even more once it begins to cool.
Serve warm with a small scoop of french vanilla ice cream. It’s heaven in a dish.
Variations I have thought about:
**This recipe would likely be excellent with a few shaved bits of chocolate added just before serving.
**Ginger would also be an excellent flavor to add when cooking, although I would do so sparingly.
