More Ideas for Cooking with Pears

I found a few more uses for the pears that are ripening too fast to keep up with, and everyone who has tried them has thought they were great!

Upside-Down Pear Tart (makes 8 servings)

1/2 c granulated sugar

2 T margarine or butter

2 t grated lemon peel, yellow part only

5 medium, firm winter pears, pared, cored and cut into eighths

1 T lemon juice

Pastry for 9-inch single-crust pie

Vanilla yogurt

In a heavy 10-inch skillet with an oven-safe handle, heat sugar over medium heat until syrupy and light brown in color. Remove from heat, add margarine and lemon peel; stir until margarine melts.

Arrange pears in two layers on hot sugar mixture in skillet. Fill open spaces with pear slices; sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll pastry to 10-inch round and place over pears.

Bate at 425° 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Cool in pan 30 minutes. If there seems to be too much sauce in pan,pour excess sauce into a 1-pint container and reserve to serve over tart. Invert tart onto shallow serving dish. Serve warm with yogurt.

Note: It is important how you arrange the pears because when you invert the tart onto the baking dish he pears will be what you see. We thickened the excess juice with corn starch and poured it over the top of the tart before we served it.

Baked Pears

You are sure to wow your family and friends with baked pears. This one is SO easy, and delicious. It's great for a fancy luncheon or a quiet dinner at home. Here's what to do:

Wash but do not core or peel four pears. (The cook in the video I saw used Anjou but we used Bartlett.) Cut the bottoms off pears and stand them up straight in a baking dish. Pour two cups of apple juice over the pears and add 6-8 whole cloves. Bake at 400° for one hour, basting them in the apple juice every 15 minutes. Serve warm, on individual plates, and pour a little of the juice from the bottom of the pan over them.

Pear Smoothies

We had pear and blueberry smoothies this morning. We used a dozen or so ice cubes, about a cup of apple juice, five pears, a large handful of frozen blueberries and a tablespoon of protein powder -- and whizzed away. Adjust the amounts (and the ingredients) to suit your taste. It is especially good for pears that are too far gone to eat fresh.