Experimenting with Pears and Cheese
Jan 2 2009

A few weeks ago I had the idea of shredding some parmesan on top of some pears for breakfast, but I didn’t have time to experiment with them much:

This morning I had a large asian pear, a big chunk of Pecorino cheese, and some extra time, so I revisited the idea of roasting the pears with the cheese:

Because the pear was so large, I could experiment in three ways. First, I placed a large, but relatively flat slice of pear underneath the broiler (the one on the right). Then I tried baking the pears at 475 (the two in the middle), and then tried baking one last one at 425 (the one on the left).

Lesson learned from this experience: Broiling makes the best pear/cheese combo. I only needed to broil them for a short period, which meant that the pear itself was not cooked and retained a crisp, slightly sharp taste that contrasted with the salty savory Pecorino really well. The baked pears cooked through and became soft, and discolored. Perhaps a different type of pear would work better for baking.

In the future, I might experiment with different cheeses. Pecorino was great in this case, because it contrasted well with the pear, and had a nice crispy texture. But a melting cheese (fontina? provolone?) would be interesting too.