Pears and Gouda Two Ways

Pears and plums are my two favorite non-berry fruits.   (A case can also be made for avocado, but that’s a fruit in its own category.)  At any rate, after the complexities in the last post, I decided to go simple, and really wanted to savor pears and Gouda cheese together.

First:  Baked Pear with Gouda and Cardamom

An appetizer for two, or a small lunch for one

1 pear
about 1 ounce Gouda cheese (or your favorite melting cheese), in small slices
Olive Oil
Sprinkle of ground cardamom (cinnamon would work as well)
Ground black pepper
Watercress or parsley for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut the pear in half, and use a melon ball-er or a spoon to scoop out the core.  Cut off any stem or bad spots.

Wipe down the cut surfaces of the pear with olive oil on a paper towel.

Sprinkle with a little cardamom and just a pinch of the pepper.  Put the pear halves in a baking dish, and situate them so that they are boats, and so that nothing will roll out of them.  I used a little aluminum foil, rolled up, to position under their necks.  Can’t have the cheese drooling out and getting lost, can we??

Bake for about ten – fifteen minutes.  Remove from oven, add the cheese slices, especially to the center of the pear halves.  Bake another ten minutes, or until the cheese melts nicely.

Remove and serve, with a garnish of watercress (if you have) or parsley.

Second:  Pear and Gouda Salad

Pear and Cheese salad

1 pear, cored and diced.  Remove any bad bits. 
About 2.5 ounces Gouda, diced.  (Or, your favorite cheese.)
A slice of onion, chopped – red or Vidalia would work best but I went with what I had.
A handful of greens (watercress shown here).
A slice of bell pepper, chopped (optional; I had some left over from a different dish)
About an ounce of vinaigrette (you can use a little olive oil with a little apple cider vinegar, optionally made with about a 1/4 teaspoon or less of ground mustard, shaken together)
Salt and pepper to taste

Assemble and serve.  If made as a side for a meal, this could serve two.  As it was, it made a great lunch all on its own.

PS:  the WordPress spell checker does not know the word, “pear”.  It keeps trying to tell me I am eating pairs and Gouda.

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