Salt Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce
After making so many sweet bakery treats I was ready for something different. Inspired by this photo of Salt Roasted Pears on marthastewart.com I decided to try it out.
This was simply divine. The pears were soft but very moist and the combination of caramel with a touch of salt was perfect. My mom, who was a bit skeptical when she saw the pan filled with salt was pleasantly surprised. I think this would be make a simple but elegant end to a fall dinner party.
In the interest of full disclosure 1 tried the caramel sauce that came with this 2 times with no success and went back to an old standby of mine. To me it seemed to dry and too low heat. My old standby had more water at a higher heat. I used a loaf pan which worked perfectly.
Salt Roasted Pears with Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Marthastewart.com
Serves 6
6 Bosc pears
1 1/2 pounds coarse salt
Caramel Sauce
1 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cups heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange the pears upright in an 8 inch ceramic dish that is 4 inches deep. cover pears with salt, allowing stems to stick out. Bake until pears are tender when pricked with a fork, 60 to 75 minutes.
Remove pears from the salt, allowing a small amount to cling to each pear. Place each pear on a serving plate, Pour caramel sauce over top, and serve.
Caramel Sauce
Pour the sugar into the center of a saucepan. Pour 1/3 cup water around the walls of the pan. So not stir; draw your finger through the center of sugar to moisten it. Over high heat, bring to a full boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally to even out the color, until the mixture is medium caramel in color, 5 to 10 minutes. Immediately turn off the heat and use a wooden spoon to slowly stir in the cream. It will bubble and may splatter.
