Blue cheese, pears, walnuts and honey are a match made in heaven – that’s no revelation. But most recipes that combine these ingredients have other components alongside: lettuce or arugula in a salad, baked into a tart, sprinkled over pizzas, mounded atop crackers. They all taste great, I mean give me this combo in any and all forms and I will gladly eat it, but sometimes I just want this. Without all the extra stuff. And that’s exactly what we are set out to do here.
I use those small red pears (from the US I think?) that are more sweet than tart. You can safely use any sweet variety than you can get your hands on. If you find them to be harder texture-wise, cook for slightly longer in the oven. If they’re not very sweet, sprinkle over more brown sugar or add more honey to the filling. The blue cheese I’ve used is a local variety, none of that fancy expensive stuff. As long as it has a good funk, you’re good on that front too.
I always struggle to put down serving sizes in my recipes. When I compare them to ones on other forums, they almost never seem to match up: Martha’s bolognese serves 4? Mine serves 2. Typical. So again, this quantity technically serves 3-4 in theory, but who are we kidding, in reality—1.
ROASTED PEARS WITH BLUE CHEESE, WALNUTS & HONEY
Ingredients
- 4 pears (see notes)
- 2 tsp brown sugar
Filling:
- 4 tbsp blue cheese, crumbled
- 2 tbsp honey
- 8 walnuts, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C.
- Halve the pears lengthways leaving the stems intact (only purely for aesthetic reasons; remove if you prefer).
- Using a melon baller or a sharp knife, hollow out the core in each half. Place them cut-side up in a baking dish.
- Sprinkle brown sugar over the pear halves and cover with foil. Bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the thickest part of the pear yields without any resistance. If they're still hard, bake for a few more minutes until they soften.
- Add the filling ingredients to a small bowl and mix. Fill each hollowed-out part of the pear generously with the filling. Bake uncovered for a further 10-12 minutes until the cheese melts and the walnuts become golden. Serve warm.
This is amazing . Thank you!