Seasonal Bounty... Pears!

Right now in Mendocino County, pears are in their prime! What to do with all those pears before they’re gone? Slice them and dry them (I like to sprinkle cinnamon over the pear slices so that it dries right into the pear!)… Process them and can them… Serve them freshly sliced with your favorite brie cheese… Make a pear tart… Dice them and stir them into your morning oatmeal (with a few walnuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon of course!). There are lots of possibilities!

For tonight though, I want easy, tasty, and SPECIAL… The recipe: Amaretti Baked Pears.

Ingredients:

4 large, ripe, juicy pears
½ cup pear or apple juice
¾ cup raw almonds
8 amaretti cookies (if needed, substitute shortbread cookies and add a ¼ tsp. almond extract)
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 Tbs. butter

Preparation:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the almonds onto a baking tray and roast for about 10 minutes… you’re going for light, golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then roughly chop.
2) Put the amaretti biscuits into a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin into tiny chunks, but not a fine powder. Tip into a bowl and mix in the almonds, brown sugar, vanilla extract, egg white and lemon juice.
3) Peel and halve the pears lengthways. Remove the cores from the pears with a teaspoon to leave a cavity for the filling but leave the stems in place. Put into a shallow ovenproof dish and fill the cavities generously with the amaretti mixture. Pour the pear juice into the dish, dot the pears with butter, cover with foil, and bake for 35 minutes, until the pears are tender (a paring knife poked into the thickest part of one should meet with no resistance). Uncover and bake for a further 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Chef’s note: The amaretti mixture would also work well with peaches. If you try the filling in peaches, only cook them for about 30 minutes.