Recipes From The Road- Pears and Figs in a Sherry Sauce

While wondering around the fruit section of a grocery store the other day we were trying to find fruit that we had not tried before or fruit we hadn't eaten in a while. There was a gorgeous display of ripe green pears and the sign above it listed the pears as being the "Best Ever Pears" from Oregon. Well, who can beat that? And plus, its from Oregon! The store also conveniently provided take home recipe cards as suggestions on what you could do with these pears. The suggested recipe was Pears in Sherry and Fig Sauce, and after reading through the directions and ingredient list we decided to give it a try.

That evening we made the recipe and it was quite yummy. At first we thought we would just eat the finished pears by themselves, but there was so much sauce that we ended up pouring the pears and sauce over slices of pound cake (as also recommended by the recipe card). If you're looking for something to make tonight, I would recommend this recipe:

Ingredients:

- 2 large pears, peeled, cored and sliced (we didn't peal our pears, I like the skin)
- 4 or 5 figs, cubed
- 1/4 cup Turbinado sugar (we used regular brown sugar)
- 2 tbsp. butter
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Sliced pear

Sliced figs

Preparation:

- In a heavy skillet, melt butter.

- Add sugar, sherry, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes.

Melted butter, sugar, sherry, salt and pepper.

- Add pears and figs and mix well. Cover and cook until pears are "crisp-tender".

Add in the pears and figs

- Remove cover and cook for an additional minute.

Pears and figs cooking in sauce

- Serve with pound cake and creme fraiche.

The final product!

I thought the recipe was rich enough by itself, so we didn't end up getting any creme fraiche to go along with the pound cake. I thought it was yummy without, although I'm sure it would be even tastier with- cream tends to do that. :o) Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Happy Best Pears Ever,

M.