Poires en chemise

Pears are probably my very favourite fruit and I eat them for breakfast as many mornings of the year as I can. But, living in the northern hemisphere, great pears are in short supply in the winter, so I'm passing along this recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks - a go-to cookbook for me. I bought it because I loved the title - The Six Minute Souffle and Other Culinary Delights - but have kept it for almost thirty years because it's the perfect cookbook. Okay, it doesn't have photographs, which is one of the delights of cookbook buying for me but in every other way, it is a perfect book.

So thanks to Carol Cutler - you're a genius - and if any of you see this book in a bookstore, make sure you buy it. It's worth every penny of the price. Many of these recipes remain on my go-to list all these years later. Oh, and thanks to Matisse for these lovely pears.

Poires en chemise by Carol Cutler

INGREDIENTS
aluminum foil
6 pears
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons Grand Marnier
2 tbsp butter

PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 375.

1. Prepare six 10 inch squares of aluminum foil. Peel the pears, leaving the stems intact and cutting a slice off the bottom so the pears will stand upright. Place a pear in the centre of each foil square.

2. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and liqueur. Stir these ingredients well to dissolve the sugar a little. Pour this sweet dressing over the pears and dot each one with 1 tsp of butter.

3. Draw up the sides of the foil and close them around the pears to make a tight seal. Place the pears on a baking dish and bake for about 1 hour or until soft, depending on ripeness.

TO SERVE
Place the pears, still in the foil packages, on a platter. At the table unwrap each package and transfer each pear to an individual dish, spooning some of the sauce over it.

I hope you enjoy Ms. Cutler's recipe as much as I have over the years. It makes the long, pearless winter more than bearable.

Kate