I was looking for a Baked Pear recipe. This one from Disney Family was easy and hard to resist (see above). If you don't have a melon baller or a peeler (like me), slice the pear, cut off the skins and cut the slices into small chunks. 

Juicy pears are the star of this flavorful baked dessert.

Hands-On Time: 1 hour

Ready In: 2 hours

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

1 ripe pear (Bosc, Anjou, or Bartlett)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of nutmeg

1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the pear in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeded centers with a teaspoon or melon baller. Then spoon out most of the flesh onto a cutting board, leaving the pear shells intact. Put the shells in a baking dish. Chop the scooped pear into bite-sized pieces and transfer to a small bowl. Cut 1 tablespoon butter into small pieces and add to the bowl.

Your child can add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon brown sugar to the chopped pear mix and toss with a spoon. Then she can spoon the filling back into each pear half. Give her some aluminum foil and have her crumple it into balls, placing them around the pears to keep them from tipping.

Put the flour, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, and the salt in a small bowl. Let your child use her fingers to smush the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, then sprinkle half the topping over each pear.

Bake pears, uncovered, until the topping is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

Valentine's Day Dinner

I was fully intending on doing a practice run the week before making Valentine's Day dinner for my boyfriend, but I was prevented by the "Snowpocalypse" as they are now calling it. I had decided on a recipe for Rack of Lamb weeks ago, and I had my heart set on doing it, so instead of backing out, I enlisted the help of my boyfriend for the scary parts (i.e. cutting the meat). I would have done it myself, if I had been able to practice, but it was a $55 piece of meat and I wasn't about to mess it up. The directions for stuffing the lamb were surprisingly clear and easy to follow. Using a wooden spoon to widen the hole and push down the stuffing was quite clever. I just wish I had prepared it earlier so the lamb could have marinated for longer. (Tip: While we were waiting for the lamb to marinate, we toasted a some french bread, lathered on some olive tapenade and covered it with the remains of the feta cheese stuffing.) The only thing lacking in that particular recipe, which was mentioned by one of the reviewers, is that the cooking times are off. The recipes says to cook the lamb for 25 minutes, but my 2.5 lb piece of meat took more than an hour. It did occur to me that maybe the directions are supposed to read "25 minutes per pound". 

Only the day before did I decide on stuffed peppers for the side dish. I wanted to continue the Greek theme with the peppers, which are stuffed with orzo, mint, tomatoes and pecorino romano cheese. They were really easy to make and instead of cooking all the peppers right away, we saved the stuffing to make fresh peppers later in the week. 

We ended the meal with pears poached in brandy and cloves with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We cut the pears in half and took out the seeds. Then, using the last of my boyfriend's Napoleon Brandy, a dash of cloves, and a hint of lemon juice, we simmered the pears on low heat for at least forty minutes ( they felt soft when poked with a fork). Served a la mode - it was quite decadent! 

I will post actual pictures soon - I just have to pull them off the camera!