Goomba wrote:

> While out yesterday I was given a bucket of what looks to be homegrown
> pears. Green with areas of brown just like melding the common green or
> brown pears together? They're squat and hard, yet the man giving them out
> said they were as ripe as they'll get. I peeled and tried one and it's a
> beautiful crisp light white inside with a hint of pear flavor. Not sour as
> if "underripe" yet not terribly sweet either? It almost made me think of
> something like jicama. I'd love to be able to do something with these so
> as to not let them go to waste. Has anyone ever come across such a pear? I
> have a wonderful ginger pear coffee cake from Penzey's recipes but unsure
> if they would be worth using here since these have so little flavor. A
> chutney perhaps? Pear sauce? Any suggestions?

I already replied once, but it was a fairly long post, and I had another
idea which fits better into a shorter post:

Cut the pears into quarters and remove the core and stem. Heat butter over
medium-high heat in a sauté pan and cook the pears cut-side-down, turning
from one cut side to the other when the first side begins to caramelize.
When you begin cooking the second cut side, add some sliced onions. When
both sides of the pears are golden brown, the onions should have begun to
pick up some color as well. Lower the heat to medium-low, add some chicken
livers, and cook for about five minutes. (The chicken livers should still be
pink inside.) Remove the livers, pears, and onions from the pan into a
serving dish. Deglaze the pan with sherry, scraping up all the crusty bits
from the bottom of the pan. Add some heavy cream, stir to combine, and pour
over the liver.

(If you don't like chicken livers, you could do something similar with pork
chops.)

Bob