Our pear tree produced its fruit earlier than usual this summer. The pears smallish and hard. Not good for eating out-of-hand, but good for cooking. Over the years I have made many yummy desserts using the bounty of this tree. It is rather a small tree. Some years very laden with fruit, others not. Truly I wasn’t really ready to deal with them this summer. I was so busy working on photo shoots that I did not even notice for a while. The birds and squirrels ate their fair share. That’s okay with me. We got our share as well.
This, of all my pear recipes, is the most simple and perhaps one of my favorites. Cut in half and cored, drizzled with maple syrup and sea salt and slow-roasted until fork-tender.
Served warm with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Pear perfect.
Slow Roasted Pears with Maple Syrup and Sea Salt
Ingredients:
- Small somewhat hard pears, cut in half & cored, peeled or not
- real maple syrup
- flaky sea salt such as Maldon
- Ice cream to serve
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place prepped pears on a parchment lined sheet pan cut side up.
- Drizzle generously with maple syrup. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Roast for about 30-40 minutes until pears are fork tender. Remove from oven.
- Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.
Note: If you have any leftovers you can freeze to use later in a simple cake.
Teresa Blackburn http://www.teresablackburnfoodstyling.com