Toasted vanilla meets torched ripe pears in these charred spiced pears with smoky vanilla-cherry sauce, a subtly sweet finisher. Use a vanilla bean that’s moist and pliable—if it’s too dry, it will ignite when you torch it. Use pears at peak ripeness; the juices will help the brown sugar adhere.
Ingredients
- vanilla bean: 1 piece
- brandy: 0.5 cup
- ounces frozen tart red cherries: 10 piece (thawed)
- packed brown sugar: 0.5 cup
- ground ginger: 0.75 tsp
- ground allspice: 0.25 tsp
- black pepper: 0.25 tsp (freshly ground)
- salt: 0.125 tsp
- water: 1 Tbsp
- cornstarch: 2 tsp
- ripe pears, halved lengthwise and cored: 4 piece
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Put vanilla bean on a foil-lined baking sheet set on a wire rack. Toast vanilla bean with a kitchen torch, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and starting to smoke, about 30 seconds. Let cool 5 minutes. Split vanilla bean lengthwise.
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Combine split vanilla bean and brandy in a medium saucepan. Carefully bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally, until brandy is reduced to 2 tablespoons, 7 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile, blend cherries in a blender or food processor until smooth.
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Stir together brown sugar, ginger, allspice, and pepper in a shallow bowl. For sauce, add 3 tablespoons brown sugar mixture, the puréed cherries, and salt to brandy mixture in saucepan. Return to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes.
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Remove vanilla bean from sauce; scrape out seeds. Stir seeds into sauce, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Return sauce to saucepan.
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Whisk together water and cornstarch. Add to sauce. Bring to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
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Dip cut sides of pears in remaining brown sugar mixture to coat evenly. Arrange pears, cut sides up, on prepared baking sheet. Brown sugared surface of pears with a kitchen torch, about 5 minutes for entire recipe. Serve pears with sauce. (Chill sauce in an airtight container up to 5 days.) Recipe Tip: When using a torch, set a foil-lined pan on a wire rack to protect your work surface from the heat.
