Friday, March 2, 2012

Savory Seared Pears with Blue Cheese + Chives

Around the house we call this dish faux gras. And okay, I admit it -- I've actually never tasted foie gras, so I'm not sure how close this is to the taste and texture of the real thing, but I will tell you that it really is delicious. It's a perfect appetizer served with crostini; it's also great on top of some lightly dressed arugula.
Seared Savory Pears with Blue Cheese + Chives
2 ripe Barlett pears
1 teaspoon champagne vinegar
1/4 teaspoon smoked salt
black pepper (to taste)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon Humboldt Fog cheese (or any other light-tasting bleu cheese) 
chopped chives (to garnish)
Slice pears into thirds from top to bottom leaving two good slices with the skin on and a core slice for each pear. Using a sharp knife, score the flesh of the outer pear slices in a diamond pattern. (You want you knife to pierce the flesh, but not to pierce the pear skin.) 
Lightly sprinkle each scored pear half with champagne vinegar -- just a few drops will do. Next, add a pinch of smoked salt and a turn of black pepper to the cut-side of each pear. Heat a medium-sized pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is heated through, add the butter. Once the butter has melted, place pears in the pan cut-side-down, and allow them to cook for three minutes without moving them. (You want the pears to caramelize nicely.) Once you have achieved some good color on the cut-side, flip pears over and heat them through on the other side. This should only take a few minutes. Remove pears from pan. 
To serve, place pears on a plate and garnish each pear half with about 1/4 ounce of crumbled bleu cheese and chopped chives. Serve with crostini or soft french bread. This makes a terrific first course or appetizer.

3 comments:

  1. Awesome. It's super easy, but it;ll change the way you think of fruit!

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  2. This was super easy and delicious. I have tasted foie gras and the texture of the seared pear and the richness of the bleu cheese is definitely comparable to foie gras. I loved it! I paired it with toasted naan because that's what I have around the house, but I want to try it next over some greens.

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