Roasted Pears With Asian Glaze

Cooking Instructions

Place rack in center of oven. Heat oven to 500F.

Make Asian Glaze. After scraping the glaze from the blender into a small bowl, pour the cup of vinegar water into the blender. Blend for a few seconds, just to combine the left-over glaze ingredients with the water. Pour into another bowl and reserve.

Peel each pear. If the pears have stems, leave them on. Use the sharp end of the vegetable peeler to hollow out the bottom of each pear. Scoop out enough to remove the seeds.

Rub each pear with some of the lemon juice. Place the pears in a 9-inch pie pan, preferably aluminum or other metal.

Using a pastry brush, paint each pear with the glaze. Paint inside the hollow as well as the outside of each pear. Using small pieces of foil about 2 inches square, make a little cap to cover the stem and top of each pear. Place a piece of star anise inside of each pear hollow.

Set in the oven and roast. Add the reserved vinegar water after 10 minutes, swirling it around in the pan with the pastry brush, then brushing pears with this mixture. Roast 45 minutes more, basting each pear with the liquid in the bottom of the pan, and turning the pan for even browning every 15 minutes. Depending on the juiciness of the pears, the liquid will start to thicken after about 20 minutes. If the bottom of the pan gets too dry, add another 1/2 cup of water.

After 55 minutes all but the hardest pears should be just about done. Before removing the foil caps, test the pears with a skewer. They should be soft and easy to pierce. If done, remove caps. If not, roast 5 minutes more.

Test the pears again with a skewer to make sure they are soft and easy to pierce. All but the very hardest pears should be done at this stage. If still hard and foil caps have been removed, replace the foil caps, add water if needed, and roast another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. Using the pastry brush, coat pears well with the glaze in the roasting pan.

Serve at once, with some of the glaze for each pear, or reserve and serve at room temperature. If serving pears later, as the pears come to room temperature, periodically coat them with the glaze.

Wine Pairing(s)

Murphy Goode Cabernet Sauvignon

Bolla Soave

Fish Eye Sauvignon Blanc

Josmeyer 'Les Folastries' Gewurztraminer

Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg

Domaine Laroche 'Les Clos' Chablis Grand Cru

Wwe. Dr. H. Thanisch 'Bernkasteler Badstube' Riesling Spätlese

R & B Cellars 'Serenade in Blanc' Sauvignon Blanc

Olivier Leflaive Freres Chablis

Couron Côtes-du-Rhône Viognier