We just got back from (one of my favorite places) Laredo. Of course there was shopping, and there was hunting, and a lot of relaxing. One of the fun things for me is that I usually end up with a bunch of ingredients, and I have to figure out what meals / desserts to make. My favorite meal happened the last night. We had deer tenderloin, dove (and quail) breasts in gravy, and duck breast in pear compote. The compote started out as baked pears that we had for dessert one night. It was delicious as dessert, but I skinned the leftover pears and mashed everything up to make the sauce for the duck. It was so good, it earned some French name like Canard Aux Poires!!!
Baked Pears
Ingredients
- Sweet red vermouth*
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Ripe pears (not too soft), halved and cored
- Ground cinnamon
- Sea salt
- Honey
- Butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 TBSP honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 TBSP sauce from baked pears
- Crushed praline pecans (optional)
Sauce
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350.
- In the bottom of a baking pan, pour a little vermouth. Add vanilla and mix.
- Lay pear halves, cut-side up, in baking pan.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon and a little sea salt. Drizzle with honey.
- Place a pat of butter on each half.
- Cover pan and bake about 30 minutes or until done. Baking time will depend on size of pears.
- Serve warm with sauce and crushed pecans.
- Mix first 4 ingredients. Place in fridge,
- Add a little of the sauce from the pears, when they are done baking.
- *Note: Because we were miles from the nearest grocery store, I used the ingredients that I had available. Instead of vermouth, you could use marsala or dry sherry. And instead of making a sauce, use whipped cream or ice cream.
Sauce