Roasted Pears for Salads or Just Snacks

Last week was Thanksgiving and amidst all the “favorites” and “must haves” I usually like to slide in a little something fun and different. This year it was a salad with a whole roasted pear half with jam, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts and honey. While these are my preferred flavors, substitutions can easily be made, so don’t let a “stinky cheese” keep you from reading on!

The dish was most definitely a hit, so I thought I would share with you how to prepare the pears. It’s very simple, with only about ten minutes of hands-on time and they present beautifully. Most of all, they’re delicious and it will look like you really fussed over them!

Here are the ingredients and basic utensils you’ll need:

• Ripe pears – I prefer Bosc, but other varieties may be used. Plan for one pear half per person.
• Jam/preserves of your choice – I used plum preserves.
• Crumbled gorgonzola cheese – I like the creaminess of gorgonzola over other blue cheeses. If you’re not a blue cheese fan, you may substitute a milder cheese such as goat cheese.
• Toasted walnut pieces – Note that I did not include toasting the walnuts in my prep time, since I usually keep some toasted in my pantry. If you need to toast walnuts, your prep will take just a little longer. Also, other nuts (such as pecans) may be substituted, or they may be omitted completely.
• Honey

You will also need a knife for halving the pears, a melon baller (more on this later, there are other options!) to core the pear halves, and a small spoon for the jam.

Let’s get started!

First, preheat your oven to 350⁰ F.

Remove the stem from the pears and then slice them in half, lengthwise.

Now let’s talk a moment about removing the core from the pears. As you can probably tell, I have a very old melon baller – it belonged to my mother! – but they haven’t changed much and it’s my preferred tool for removing the cores. I simply slide it around the core and scoop. It leaves a nice, smooth little “bowl” for the rest of my ingredients. If you wish, you can scoop a little deeper and wider than the actual core to give yourself a bit more room for filling – just be sure you don’t go all the way to the skin on the bottom of the pear half. If you don’t have a melon baller, you have options!

To the right of the melon baller is a grapefruit spoon, which is basically a teaspoon with a serrated edge at the tip. Another option is a grapefruit knife (I know, I have all these old-time utensils!), which is a small knife with serrations on both sides and a slightly curved blade. Finally, there’s your basic teaspoon, which will work fine as long as your pear is ripe.

Now that you’ve scooped out the cores (forgive me, I neglected to snap a photo!), place the pears on a sheet pan lined with parchment and spoon in your jam. Fill the cored area about three-quarters full. You can see that if you just place them on the sheet pan, the pears will slant forward considerably like the one on the left.

Since this makes me a little nervous that the filling will all start to spill forward, I take another piece of parchment, roll it up and crunch the ends to make a little ledge. This will give the front of the pear a place to rest. The next photo shows the jam-filled pears lined up along the parchment ledge.

The pears may not be perfectly level, but they will be more level than without the ledge, which will ensure that the filling remains more intact. Note that this ledge is a “nice but not necessary” option, but it works for me!

Now sprinkle on enough gorgonzola over the jam to suit your taste and drizzle the pears with honey.

My honey is in a squeeze bottle, so I just drizzle directly from the container.

Place the pears in the oven for 15-25 minutes. Roasting time will depend on several factors: the ripeness of the pears (the more ripe, the faster they will roast); the temperature of the pears going into the oven (if they were stored in the fridge, they will take longer than at room temperature); the size of the pears (larger pears may need more time than smaller pears).

Fifteen minutes is a good point to take a peek: you’re looking for the edges to begin to get a little dry where the skin meets the flesh and for the cheese to melt. The pears will also begin to turn a bit golden. Don’t hesitate to insert the tip of a knife or a toothpick to get a feel for how soft they are getting. You don’t want them to roast so long that they turn to mush; they should continue to hold their shape.

Once out of the oven, sprinkle with the toasted walnuts and drizzle with a bit more honey.

The pears will be delicious eaten as a snack just as they are, or you can serve them as part of a salad. I served them as a salad, sitting on top of a bed of arugula that I had tossed lightly with a citrus vinaigrette. (Note that my favorite Citrus-Maple Vinaigrette is included below as a bonus recipe!) I scattered a few more walnuts and a bit more gorgonzola around the pears onto the arugula. It really is such a pretty dish and a perfect addition to your holiday meals!

Roasted Pears

Note that much of this recipe is “to taste” - use as much or as little cheese and walnuts as you wish. The amounts listed are approximate for your reference.

Scroll down for a printable version of this recipe

Serves: 4

Prep time:10 minutes

Cook time: 15-25 minutes

2 ripe pears 

4 teaspoons plum preserves (or other jam/preserves of your choice), divided across 4 pear halves.

4 teaspoons crumbled gorgonzola cheese, divided across 4 pear halves. 

4 Tablespoons toasted walnut pieces, divided across 4 pear halves 

Honey for drizzling

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰F.

2. Remove the stem from the pears and slice in half, vertically.

3. Scoop out the core of each pear half, making the cored area a little deeper and/or wider than the core size if you wish.

4. Place the pear halves on a parchment-lined sheet pan and spoon the jam into the cored areas of each pear half to about three-quarters full. 

5. Sprinkle the gorgonzola over the jam and drizzle the pears with honey.

6. Roast in the preheated oven for 15-25 minutes. 

7. Remove from the oven and drizzle with a bit more honey.

8. Serve the roasted pears on their own as a snack or serve them as a salad over arugula that has been lightly tossed with a citrus vinaigrette and sprinkled with a few more walnuts and gorgonzola. My Citrus-Maple Vinaigrette is included below as a bonus recipe.

My Citrus-Maple Vinaigrette is included below as a bonus recipe.

Citrus-Maple Vinaigrette (Bonus recipe)

Yield: Approximately 1/2 cup

Prep time: 5 minutes

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup orange juice

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together well.

2. Store in a jar, refrigerated.

Love pears in salads as much as we do? Check out these upcoming classes featuring them:

• Fall Dinner Party Saturday, December 2 6pm with Roasted Beet, Pear and Mixed Green Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette 
• New Year's Eve Festa Italiana Saturday, December 30 6:30pm with Arugula Salad with Crispy Prosciutto, Pears, Hazelnuts and Champagne Vinaigrette 
• New Year's Eve Festa Italiana Sunday, December 31 5pm with Arugula Salad with Crispy Prosciutto, Pears, Hazelnuts and Champagne Vinaigrette