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Desserts

Roasted Pears with Dried Apricots and Pistachos

served with Cashew Pear Whipped Cream

This beautiful plant based Mediterranean dessert is a real crowd pleaser and is easy to make. This recipe comes from The Compete Mediterranean Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen. As is typical of Mediterranean diet dishes, this dessert is actually good for you. Loaded with fibre, from the pears, apricots and nuts, this is a dessert that will lower your cholesterol instead of raising it.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  • 4 ripe but firm Bosc or Packham pears (peeled, halved, and cored)

  • 1 1/4 cups dry white wine

  • 1/2 cup dried apricots, diced

  • 1/3 cup sugar

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamon

  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

  • 1/3 cup shelled pistachios, toasted and chopped

Directions

Heat oven to 230 Celcius.

 

Heat oil in oven safe pan on medium-high heat. Place pear halves, cut side down in skillet. Cook, without moving them until pears are just beginning to brown, 3-5 minutes.

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Transfer skillet to oven and roast pears for 15 minutes. Gently flip pears over and continue to roast until tender, 10-15 minutes longer.

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Carefully transfer pears to a platter. Return pan to medium-high heat and add wine, apricots, sugar, cardamom, and salt. Bring to simmer, whisking up any browned bits. Cook until sauce is the consistency of maple syrup, 7-10 minutes.

 

Remove pan from heat and stir in lemon juice. Pour sauce over pears, sprinkle with pistachios, and serve with dollop of Cashew Pear Whipped Cream.

Cashew Pear Whipped Cream 

Ingredients

Directions

  • 1 cup of raw cashews

  • 4 tinned pear halves

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Soak cashews in 1 cup of boiling water for 10 minutes, drain.​

Mix cashews, pears and vanilla paste in a high speed blender for 30 seconds until whipped

(This amazing recipe comes from Sue Radd's cookbook called Food As Medicine - a cookbook everyone looking for good health should own.)

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