I’ve never quite understood that saying. Good pie is anything but easy to make! This post is for us less fortunate bakers who crave to make good desserts but have less flour skills.

You usually have three types of cooks…cooks that are good at making desserts, ones that are not good at making desserts and those who can pull off a nice dessert from time to time, but nothing too difficult mind you….and I’m in definitely in that category! I LOVE components of desserts; like sauces, custards and fresh fruit but am not at all thrilled when I have to make a dough or cake. With savory cooking you can usually put it into 5th gear and get great results.. with MOST desserts you can not… a great pastry chef has the mind of a scientist and the touch of someone who works with plutonium (soft and quiet).. and brother, that ain’t me!

So, to start the new year off nice and sweet I thought I’d share one of my favorite EASY desserts that requires nothing more than a trip to the farmers market, a little melted sugar and a schmear of mildly sweet cheese.

I tripped on this dish when I was running the lounge for Virgin Atlantic Club House way back when. Originally, I used baby apples but since have used these magnificent Forelle pears that have an amazing pear flavor and are the perfect size for a single serving. They originally came from Germany and translated means “trout” due to their bright red and yellow colors.

Happy roasting!

Roast Forelle Pears with Salted Caramel and Mascarpone
Serves 10 people

For the pears
10 forelle pears, washed
Juice of one lemon
2 turns of fresh nutmeg
1 pound mascarpone cheese

For the caramel
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups heavy cream
3 tablespoons orange juice (or 3 tablespoons whiskey *optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees and place pan in oven

For the pears
Toss with lemon and nutmeg. Roast in hot skillet for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the skin starts to bubble and turn brown. Take out of skillet and let cool a tinge.

For the caramel
Combine water and sugar in a non-reactive saucepan. Cook over low heat until sugar dissolves. Let mixture boil gently, without stirring! It will take about 10 minutes for a light amber color to start showing. As sugar darkens in color it is okay to swirl the pan, but do not use any utensils to stir the sugar. If crystals form on the side of the pan, dip a pastry brush in water and brush down the sides of the pan. When sugar is the desired caramel color, remove pan from heat and add salt and the OJ (whiskey). The mixture will boil vigorously. When it calms down add the cream and stir. Return to the heat and stir the sauce with a spoon. It will thicken a bit more and get slightly darker, and then it is done.

To Serve
On the base of a plate schmear a heaping tablespoon of mascarpone. Lay a pear directly on top and then ladle the slightly burnt salted caramel over top. Yum!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Sweet Treats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.