Baked Pears with Blue Cheese & Cider Sauce

These baked pears go off in a savoury direction & feature blue cheese, a savoury crumble & cider sauce and they are the perfect side dish for pork!

Savoury Roasted Pears with Blue Cheese

Roasted or baked pears typically invoke thoughts of dessert time, in much the same way as poached pears. But this fruit is exceptionally good in savoury dishes too.

They appear in my pork chop skillet recipe as well as caramelised served on top of my deep fried Camembert recipe.

These pears form a stand-alone side dish and they feature blue cheese. A classic savoury flavour combination often used in pear salads.

Here it melts into the cider sauce and adds a fantastic earthy sour tone.

We finish it all off with a simple savoury crumble that adds an incredible texture to the dish.

What Blue Cheese to Use

Your choice of blue cheese for this recipe should be defined what you are serving it with.

If you are serving these alongside a lean piece of meat with subtle flavours then you should go for something mild like Danish Blue.

But if you are pairing these baked pears with something punchy then try Stilton or Gorgonzola.

If you are thinking of serving this to someone who is less comfortable with blue cheese you should try Bleu d’Auvergne.

It is a “mouldy cheese with a different culture. It has a sweeter almost nuttier flavour that many people who do not like blue cheese really like.

Serving Suggestions

If you think pork and apple is a classic combination then wait till you try pork and pear!

Because this easy bake pears recipe just sings when served along side pork.

It does not matter what pork either, they are fantastic with pork belly slices as well as roasted pork belly! For both of these, I would use Stilton cheese as the blue cheese because of its strong flavour.

It is also great with pork chops and blackberry sauce or even my skinless sausages wrapped in leeks, for these I would use either Roquefort or Gorgonzola cheese.

If you wanted to serve it with something mild like this bacon wrapped tenderloin then Danish blue would be ideal.

If you wanted to go really left field you could even serve these baked pears with crispy pigs ears!

Equipment Used

I only mention brands of equipment if I think that they make a material difference to a recipe. But if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments section below the recipe.

• Stovetop.
• Oven.
• 24cm or 10″ frying pan or skillet (ovenproof). You will need two of these or you will need to make the crumble first then clean out the pan.
• Spatula.
• Whisk.
• Mini blender or bag and rolling pin to crush the crumble.
• Kitchen knife.
• Chopping board.
• Vegetable peeler.
• Large bowl to soak the pears.
• Weighing scales and or measuring jug, cups and spoons.