Cardamom Baked Pears
By: Helen Pitlick
Published: Thursday, December 3, 2009 - 11:20am

Ingredients




1/4 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
pinch white pepper, optional
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise
2 firm ripe pears, such as Comice or Anjou, halved and seeded
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon unrefined sugar
1 teaspoon coconut oil or butter, divided into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons pine nuts, optional

Preparation

1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place one oven rack in top of oven and one in middle of oven. Combine wine, cardamom and white pepper, if using, in a 8-inch square baking dish. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into wine mixture and add scraped pod. 2 Place two pears cut-side up in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over pears, allowing excess to spill over. Sprinkle with sugar and top each pear half with a margarine piece. Cover pan with foil, place on middle rack in oven and bake 30 minutes or until tender. 3 Remove foil; turn oven to broil and shift baking pan to top rack. Broil 5 minutes or until lightly browned. 4 Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in skillet over medium heat, shaking pan frequently, 4-5 minutes or until browned. 5 Transfer pears to serving plates, drizzle with juice from pan and sprinkle with pine nuts.

About


Adapted from the March 2009 issue of "Vegetarian Times."