Take a fruit and make it into a dessert. This rosemary Hasselback Asian pear is roasted and, at the same time, soaked in rosemary-infused syrup. A fruity and sweet dessert that is easy to make and perfect to enjoy with some ice cream or just as it is.
Are you familiar with Asian pear? Basically, it’s a fruit, which resembles an apple, in form and in a crisp bite, but it tastes like a fresh, sweet pear. Interesting, right? Wink.
Often you can find the pears in well-stocked supermarkets. You can recognise them as being just a bit larger than a regular apple. Besides, their skin colour can vary from pale green-yellow to light brown.
These pears are also known under other names, such as Korean pear, Chinese pear, sand pear, Persian pear, Japanese pear or Nashi.
The Asian pears in this recipe were saved before ending in the trash can. Let me explain. The other day we “bought” food through an app called “Too Good to Go”. Maybe you know it. It is available in many European countries, with the purpose of “saving” the unsold food. And this includes supermarkets, restaurants, hotels and bakeries.
So, we purchased from an Asian store and, as always, we were very excited to see what was in the bag. Every time it is a surprise because you don’t know what you get until you get it. Wink. However, in my experience, we always got a generous amount of food, looking extremely fresh and good.
If I go back to this purchase, between rice noodles, curry paste, soy sauce and some vegetables, there were two Asian pears, too. But these two pears were extremely large. In fact, you could put two large apples in one pear. They were huge! I’ve never seen them like that.
Hasselback cut
They were just perfect for the Hasselback cut. Hasselback cut is a simple and amazing way to make your food look interesting, different and gorgeous. Also, you can use it on vegetables, meat and fish as well.
The most famous are Hasselback potatoes. They look so beautiful! And they taste just as good as they look. Wink. In addition, you can check out more Hasselback recipes: a Hasselback zucchini or this fantastic festive Hasselback butternut squash.
Rosemary syrup
Despite being baked, the Asian pear stays quite crispy and firm on the inside. At the same time, it becomes juicier and sweeter. Yummy.
Because of the simplicity of this recipe, I played a bit with the syrup flavour. Rosemary is a unique herb, in my opinion. It includes notes of citrus, pine, lavender, mint and sage. A real rollercoaster of aromas. A tip, on how to get the most out of the rosemary is, to rub it between your hands or simply roll the rolling pin on it. This will release the essential oil and fragrances from the rosemary leaves and give more aroma to the syrup.
Ingredients for two portions of rosemary Hasselback Asian pear:
- 1 large Asian pear
- 120 ml water
- 100 g sugar
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 2 drops of vanilla paste
- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (finely chopped leaves)
- 20 g butter
To begin, prepare the syrup. Shortly rub the rosemary between your hands, remove the leaves and chop them finely. In a smaller saucepan, add the water, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla and rosemary. Bring it to a boil and cook, with continuous stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Once ready, set it aside and preheat the oven to 200°C.
Then, wash and halve the pear. Using a spoon or a melon baller, scoop out the core. Place the first half, cut side down, on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, make a cut every 3 mm without cutting all the way through. To prevent cutting through it, you can place skewers or chopsticks on either side of the pear. Repeat with the second half.
Afterwards, lightly grease the bottom of the baking dish with some butter and place the pear, cut side down, in it. Using a spoon, start pouring the rosemary syrup, a little at a time, over the pears. Make sure the syrup reaches the gaps between the slices, too. Pour the remaining syrup into the baking dish.
Put them in the oven, on the middle rack, and bake for 10 minutes. Then, lightly tilt the baking dish and, using a spoon, drip the syrup again over the pears. Put it back in the oven and repeat three more times, until it reaches a total time of 40 minutes. At the end place a small piece of butter on each halve and let it melt.
Finally, serve the rosemary Hasselback Asian pear when still warm and with plenty of extra syrup. It pairs great with some vanilla ice cream or some nuts.
Enjoy.
