Caramelized Pears With Black Pepper-Caramel Sauce

Name: Caramelized Pears With Black Pepper-Caramel Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 6 serving(s)
Ingredients: 1/3 cup water; 2/3 cup sugar; 3 pears, halved (ripe, medium firm); 2/3 cup heavy cream; 1 dash table salt; 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, whole roughly crushed; 3 ounces blue cheese, strong cut into 6 attractive wedges (such as Stilton)

Submitted by DeSouter

"From America's Test Kitchen. It is amazing how simple this recipe is and the extraordinary results it yields. Impressive."

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Ready In:: 30mins
Ingredients:: 7
Serves:: 6

ingredients

¹⁄₃ cup water
²⁄₃ cup sugar
3 pears, halved (ripe, medium firm)
²⁄₃ cup heavy cream
1 dash table salt
¹⁄₄ teaspoon black peppercorns, whole roughly crushed
3 ounces blue cheese, strong cut into 6 attractive wedges (such as Stilton)

directions

Remove seeds from pear halves with a large melon baller, and trim off 1/4 inch from the bottom of each pear half so it will stand upright on a plate. Place the water in a 12-inch nonstick skillet and pour the sugar into the center of the pan, taking care not to let the crystals adhere to the sides of the pan. bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture is bubbling wildly. Add the pears to the skillet, cut-side down, cover, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook until the pears are nearly tender (a paring knife inserted into the center of the pears feels slight resistance).
Uncover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the sauce is golden brown and the cut sides of the pears are partly caramilzed, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour the heavy cream around the pears and cook, shaking the pan back and forth, until the sauce is a smooth, deep caramel color and the cut sides of the pears are beautifully golden 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat. Using tongs, carefully remove the pears from the pan and place cut-side up on a wire rack set over a trimmed baking sheet. Cool slightly. Season the sauce left in the pan with salt to taste and the crushed black pepper, then pour it into a liquid measuring cup.
Carefully (the pears will still be hot) stand each pear half upright on an individual plate and arrange a wedge of the blue sheese beside it. Drizzle the plate and some of the pear with the caramel sauce. Serve immediately. (Alternatively, the pears can be stood upright on a large serving platter, and the warm caramel sauce and the blue cheese can be passed separately.).
TECHNIQUE: Coring a Pear 1. Cut the fruit in half from stem to blossom end. Use a melon baller to cut around the central core with a circular motion. 2. Draw the melon baller from the central core to the top of the pear, removing the interior portion of the stem as you go.

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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

DeSouter

United States

Being a born and bred New Yorker with lots of varied ethnic food influences growing up, you can find me enjoying anything from Bloodwurst to Chicken Jahlfrezi to PBJs with fresh-ground honey roasted peanut butter and yummy homemade strawberry jam, and don't forget my friend Anna's mother's Pomodoro Sauce (via Bari, Italy). When it comes to eating and cooking, many native New Yorkers seem to be of whatever background that is on their plate at the moment. I notice that a good number of Zaarites list "pet peeves" here. Many list whiny people as their peeve. Hey...I live in NYC where almost EVERYONE whines and complains, so I don't notice anymore. What burns my biscuits is seeing recipes that call for some really funky ingredients like Kraft (cough cough) Parmesan cheese in the green can and chicken from a can. I had never even heard of chicken in CAN(???) until last year. Get the best quality ingredients you purse will allow. That includes spices. Those jars of spices that sell for 99 cents are no bargain if you can afford something better. Do yourself a favor and if possible, go and explore any ethnic food markets in your area. They have the most wonderful spices and herbs and they are usually priced well. And you'll find so many other goodies you'd never have even known about. (I know this isn't possible for everyone, but then there's always the internet) Sorry, I am the product of an "ingredient snob" father and I just can't help having inherited that gene to a certain extent. And again, I'm a New Yawka...we are SLIGHTLY opinionated. You're reading about the person who drives (I kid you not) 3 hours upstate and 3 hours back just to get THE sausage I need for my Thanksgiving stuffing. So call me fanatical. I am a rather good baker and for a short time I had my own dessert biz...until I found out how hard it can be to work for yourself. So I went back to working as an Art Editor in publishing.

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