Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Roasted Pears with Honeyed Goat Cheese

Roasted Pears with Honeyed Goat Cheese
Adapted  from Suzanne Collins
This is a simple yet delicious wintertime dessert. It looks impressive and tastes amazing but requires little effort to make! It was inspired by a dish a friend created for a potluck.

1 T butter
1 pear
1/3 c. goat cheese
1 T honey
2 T balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Put butter in a small pan with sides (I used a 9x9-in.) and place in preheating oven until butter is melted (just a few minutes). Take the pan out so butter doesn't burn.
2. Stand pear up on its base and slice downwards lengthwise into 1/4 in. slices. Place slices in pan without overlapping. Put in oven and roast for about 5 minutes.
3. Sprinkle (or brush) the balsamic vinegar on the pears. Cook for about 5 more minutes until tender.
4. Meanwhile, mix goat cheese and honey, to taste, and toast almonds in oven until they just start to color.
5. Once pears have cooled a bit, spoon a bit of goat cheese on top of each pear slice, sprinkle with almonds, and serve!

Notes: This recipe (like nearly every recipe!) is very adaptable. Blue cheese could be subsituted for the goat cheese; a flavored balsamic vinegar would be amazing with the pears; walnuts instead of almonds would be equally delicious; port instead of balsamic vinegar and with blue cheese would go perfectly, too; a balsamic reduction over the top would add lots of flavor and another color contrast. This could be served with cake or ice cream or port. (Though, in my opinion, it's so good on it's own--why add anything!)
Alternatively, omit the honey and the dish could deliciously and elegantly top a salad as a first or main course.

4 comments:

  1. Yumm! And you're right, totally bad-ass ;)

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  2. cool, geoff! you should put that on a tart. can't wait for saturday!

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  3. yay for the combination of pears and cheese! I wholeheartedly approve.

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  4. this looks lovely - fruit and cheese, can't go wrong. Thanks for reading my blog, yours looks great!

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