Bit of Honey

Today I was rambling through the pantry looking for something sweet to cook.  I came across a jar of honey.  This honey was a souvenir from an anniversary trip that Chuck and I took to Asheville, NC.

Ohhh, what a wonderful weekend!!  No kids whining or fighting, just me and my hubby having some fun!!

Gotta love it.  Anyway, if you haven't been to Asheville, you need to go.  It is a great town for a romantic getaway.  Lots of great hiking trails, golfing, and the food there is YUMMY.  The local restaurants believe in supporting the community farmers.  Everywhere we went  there were fresh veggies and fruits and the dishes being served were all made from whatever was in season.  One of the restaurants we tried and LOVED was The Market Place.  This restaurant claims that all their ingredients for menu items come from within 100 miles of Asheville.  WOW!  They even had some local wine, which we had to try, of course!  After eating our delicious meals, we had one of their signature cocktails, "The Bee's Knees".  Mmmm, sweetness.  This drink had gin, lemon and a honey syrup.  This was a keeper.  I will post this recipe another day.  It was sooo good.  Anyway, long story short, I bought the honey so I could recreate the cocktail.  The source of the honey is from The Smokey Mountain Honey House in Asheville, I bought the Sourwood Honey. 

Today, I have decided to make some Honey Roasted Pears from this liquid gold.  I found this recipe at the LATimes website.  Sounds delicious. 

Honey Roasted Pears

1 lemon

Medium ripe pears ( I used Bosc)

2 Tbsp butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup honey

2 1/2 cups water

Heat oven to 425.  Set the rack on the top shelf.  Peel lemon

 zest into strips.

Peel pears and leave stems on. Cup a slice off the bottom of the pear, so

that it will sit nicely in the roasting pan.  Place pears in pan and add lemon

zest, butter, sugar, honey and 2 1/2 cups water. There is no need to premix

ingredients, they will all melt together in pan.

Bake until sugar and  honey have dissolved and the tops of pears begin

to brown, about 30 minutes.  Remove pan from oven. Using a rubber spatula,

gently push over pears so that they lie on their side.  Return to oven and bake

20 minutes more. Turn pears once again to other side and bake another 20 minutes.

The pears will begin to carmelize.  Stand pears up and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Baste pears with carmelized juices every 15 minutes for a total cook time of

45 minutes.  The pears are done when the tops are almost black and the flesh

is a shiny deep caramel color.  Remove pears from oven and baste one last time

with the syrupy caramel.  Remove pears from pan and place on plate to cool. 

Serve warm with the caramelized honey syrup.

BTW- Thanks Hun for the perfect weekend!