Asian Pears with Port

Braised Asian Pear with Roquefort and Sweet Port Wine Dressing in Robert Irvine's "Impossible to Easy," was the next recipe made. This recipe was chosen randomly by my boyfriend.

Ingredients:

4 Asian Pears

1 Stick butter, melted

1/4 c Walnut halves

1 c Ruby Port Wine

1/2 c Crumbled blue cheese

1 Tb Minced fresh mint leaves

I followed the recipe exactly, however there are a few things that should be changed. After you have arranged the cored pears up right in the pan with 1 tablespoon of butter, they get stuffed with walnuts, then half of the remaining butter is poured in and and over the pears. Cover the pan, reduce heat, and allow to cook for 5 minutes, however 5 minutes is too short. The recipe wanted them to be half-cooked at the end of the 5 minutes but, depending on how large and thick your pears are, 5 minutes isn't going to work. For my pears, I had to have them going for an extra 5 minutes. After the pears are almost cooked the book says, "Uncover the pan and deglaze it with the port wine, pouring some over the pears as you do so. Continue cooking until the port is reduced by half and the pears are tender about 5 to 8 minutes." This is where I got confused, the recipe doesn't specify if I should re-cover the pot. Since the last instruction was to uncover, I left it uncovered. Turns out it was supposed to be covered up again. The pears didn't get tender. Covering the pot would have steamed the pears which obviously would have made them tender. Another thing to change is pouring the wine in the pears. Because the wine is still in the pears when you remove them with tongs and the time comes for you to cut into them, the wine spills out and dilutes the sauce you just made.

The sauce is smooth and tangy but if you pour wine in the pears, that wine spills and dilutes the sauce greatly. Another change, would be the walnuts. Walnuts are just walnuts. It provides a welcoming crunch but rather bland in terms of flavor. When making this dish, I advise roasting them lightly or even stuffing the pears with candied walnuts.

In all honesty, I didn't eat my entire portion. It wasn't for my palate. If you like port wine and blue cheese, this can be a pleasant dish. I still recommend increasing cooking time, re-covering pot, and not to pour port into the center of the pears. It might also be a good idea to not pour the butter directly in the center of the pears as well.

Enjoy!

#Pear #wine #cheese #fruit