Caramelized Rocha Pears

Posted on October 3, 2007 
Filed Under Food

Fall in the Algarve is a medley of sunny days, cool evenings and chestnut roasting vendors with billowing clouds of smoke that tempt from afar. Fortunately the chestnut roasters haven’t come out yet, and my compulsion to hunt them down is still a few weeks away.

Although I really really like summer, fall is one of my favorite times of year: roasted chestnuts awaiting me at every corner and all the comfort foods ahead makes saying goodbye to summer a bit more bearable. Roasts, lots of baked everything, fire in your chest drinks like Aguardente, Muscatel and Setubles, and let’s not forget the Ports! Ahhh fall here I come…

I don’t think there’s a better way to usher in fall than with our spiced up Rocha Pears, now in season. I’ve always been challenged by pears mostly because I haven’t’ come across a lot of great pear recipes. So this year I decided to take these sexy shaped vixens and have my way with them. The result: caramelized, drunken and sided up with some Dulce de Leche ice cream and topped with roasted almonds….its soo good to be bad sometimes.

Caramelized Rocha's


Caramelized Rocha’s
Source: Own - Serves 2

2 Rocha Pears – Ripe but firm
2 Tbsp. Golden Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp. Butter – unsalted
3Tbsp. Fresh squeezed Orange juice
1Tsp. Fresh squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of Cinnamon
Pinch of Anise powder
Pinch of Nutmeg
Pinch of Flor de Sal
3 Tbsp. Maciera brandy
Ice Cream –Dulce de Leche by Haagen Dazs
Almonds – Sliced and roasted

Instructions:

  1. Wash pears, cut in half and then half again to get quarters. *Note: pears can oxidize and brown quickly once cut, so have everything ready to go before cutting pears.
  2. In non stick sauce pan melt butter, over medium heat, then add sugar and let bubble
  3. Add orange and lemon juice and mix well to incorporate
  4. Add spices, cinnamon, anise, nutmeg and Flor de sal
  5. Place pears flesh side down in caramel, let cook for 3-5 min, then turn over to other flesh side, cook another 3-5
  6. Pour Maciera over pears; more Maciera can be added depending on taste
  7. Arrange four segments per person on each plate and spoon some of caramel over pears
  8. Serve with ball of Dulce de Leche ice cream, a cinnamon wafer, roasted almonds and a last sprinkle of cinnamon over entire plate to finish

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I’ve found any dessert that combines hot and cold has two things happen: first, the hot stuff goes cold fast, second the cold stuff melts fast. To fix this I suggest serving the pears finished but without the ice cream. Then place the ice cream on the table in a separate bowl, surrounded by ice and let guests scoop it themselves.

*Note: funny coincidence, as I was double checking the spelling of Dulce de Leche, I discovered Haagen Dazs has a new flavour - Caramelized Pear and Toasted Pecan. If you really love pears you might want to give it’s a try too.

I would love to hear how this recipe turned out for you.

Comments

2 Responses to “Caramelized Rocha Pears”

  1. Rolando on October 7th, 2007 1:51 am

    OMG those look delicious! We have pairs in our backyard. I doubt that I could make them out of anything special. :(

  2. Eddie on October 8th, 2007 12:31 pm

    Hi Rolando, the recipe calls for Rocha pears but you can use another type. If you have pears in your back yard then let them get ripe on the vine and when just right pull them for this recipe. It’s really very simple and you have an entire tree in your back yard, you can’t get any better than that! Try it and let me know how it goes.

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