Pears Stuffed with Gorgonzola and Walnuts with White Wine Sauce
Appetizers Simple Recipes Cheese Fruits
In France it was customary to serve four courses at a meal: appetizer (or soup), main course, cheese platter, and dessert. So if we were in France, these stuffed pears would be suitable to serve either as an appetizer or in place of the cheese platter.
Ingredients
2 pears (use a firm variety; I used Conference pears)
90 g Gorgonzola cheese (dolce)
50 g lightly toasted walnuts
2 teaspoons oil
salt, pepper
White wine sauce
100 ml sweet white wine
50 g sugar
1/2 teaspoon starch
Servings: 2-4
How to prepare pears stuffed with gorgonzola and walnuts with white wine sauce
- Cut the pears in half lengthwise and scoop out the core with a melon baller. If they don't sit flat, cut a little off the base for stability. Brush each piece with oil on top and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.
- Mix the Gorgonzola with coarsely ground walnuts (I just pulsed them a few times in a coffee grinder). Fill the cavities where the cores were with this mixture.
- Place the pears in a baking tray and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes (the baking time depends on your pear variety. After 15 minutes start checking them - when a fork goes in easily, they're done). Mine took 30 minutes.
- While the pears are baking, boil the wine with the sugar for 3 minutes after the sugar has dissolved.
* The amount of sugar depends on how sweet your wine is, so it's good to add a little at a time and taste the syrup after it dissolves; when it tastes pleasantly sweet, stop. - After the wine has boiled, add the starch dissolved in a little cold water and boil for 1 more minute.
- Serve the pears warm drizzled with wine sauce.
Scoop out the pear cores
The stuffed pears
Pears in the tray, ready for the oven
