Photography
julia calleo
my lavender blues
Baked Hasselback Pears with Brie & Pistachios
Recovery, recovery, recovery. It’s a thing and it’s working.
My bellybutton no longer looks as though someone decided to take a drill to it. Okay maybe it still does a lil bit but SO much better. I’ve stopped gagging whenever I look down to take a peek. (yeah that was happening).
I’ve also gained 90 percent of my weight back, so that’s sort of annoying but was completely expected. Who actually wants to eat clear broth for every meal? Newp. The only liquid diet I would consider is alcoholism. But even that sounds difficult. How can one not eat a pretzel or cheese when drinking whiskey/wine?
Unless… Is a milkshake part of the liquid diet? What about eggnog? I LOVE ME SOME adult NOG (here is a recipe for a chai unspiked vegan one I made way back when, you should spike it though).
No no, I still can’t drink my meals. My brain still craves a good chew to even begin giving me those feeling full vibes. SO. with that being said. I’m trying to at least give myself ‘better’ alternatives to just stuffing my self with pie when I am weak at the knees for something sweet to fill the ol’ bell.
Which is sort of where this hasselback pear thing comes into play. I’ve hasselback’ed (can this be used as a verb?) pears before into a tart. And they were wonderful. And it was so pretty. And tasted so yummy. And required VERY LITTLE WORK. Which is my favorite type of dessert! Or kind of my life motto.
Always, and i mean ALWAYS. Take the easy way out.
😉
Kidding (sometimes).
But anywho. This dish. I can’t decide if it should be considered a dessert or an app. I’m going to go with an app, however I also love cheese in my dessert sooooooooo….. the choice is yours. I think it could be incredibly impressive if you brought this as an appetizer because during the holidays most homes are going to have things like pies and cookies and cakes for dessert. And if someone sees an apple pie or a loaded chocolate cake next to a pear, they’re going to opt for the pie/cake. Just sayin’. And I also feel like appetizers aren’t always the prettiest. Unless you’ve got a bomb charcuterie board going on. This actually would pear VERY well with one. And people would think you’re fancy af. And they would probably talk about you behind your back. Which is always a good thing. Even when it is bad.
You know what they say, there is no such thing as bad publicity. All press is good press. Even when it sounds horrible.
(i don’t know, i am pretty sure this just helps people sleep better at night if they do something terrible and people talk about them. but whatever).
Baked Hasselback Pears with Brie & Pistachios
Recipe Notes:
I use a melon ball scooper to take the seeds out of the pears however you can just use a teaspoon. When slicing the pears, hasselback, just be careful not to slice the whole way through. Or else you’ll just have sliced pears….. however. If this does happen, which it did to me MULTIPLE times, push the pear together, it won’t move around when baking, just be careful when transferring the whole pear to a serving dish so it doesn’t fall part.
When stuffing the pear with brie, make sure your brie slices are on the thinner side. If you need to pop the brie into the freezer for 20 minutes to help your slicing, you may. OR what you can also do is take a little piece out of the pear so the brie will fit better (does this make sense? make the brie a little home).
Be sure to line your baking sheet with parchment paper so the pears easily transfer. Their juices will be all over the damn place. Don’t fret about cooking time for both pears and brie. The pears cook just enough and the brie melts perfectly with this temp/baking time. Just make sure you are using ripe pears. If your pears are unripened then I recommend baking the pears first for 20 minutes before adding the brie, and then baking until the pears are soft and brie is melted (this could take then 35 minutes total).
I chopped up roasted/salted pistachios and finished the pears off with a sprinkling of coconut sugar and maldon salt. It gives the perfect combination of sweet + salty without taking away from the sweetness of the pears, the tang from the brie and then saltiness from the pistachios. Don’t go overboard with it. Less is best. Just enough to make it pretty (in fact, if you decide to bring this to a home for the holidays, I recommend finishing the pears with pistachios/sugar/salt once you get to your landing point…. for aesthetic reasons only. And this dish is first about flavor, and then all about the aesthetics).
ALSO: EACH HALF IS UNDER 150 CALORIES. SO BRING ON CRACKERS AND CHARCUTERIE. YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO.
- Serves: 8 halves
- Serving size: 1 half
- Calories: 147
- Fat: 6.8g
- Carbohydrates: 20.4g
- Fiber: 3.8g
- Protein: 3.4g
- 4 pears, sliced in half lengthwise and hassselbacked (small ⅛" slits across back of pear)
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ cup brie sliced into small ⅙" thin pieces (just thin)
- ⅓ cup shelled chopped pistachios (roasted, salted)
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- Maldon Salt for sprinkling
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Next place your pears onto baking sheet, and drizzle with 1 - 2 tbsp of olive oil
- If your pears are completely ripened and soft add about 3 slices of brie to each pear. Scatter brie in between slices.
- Place into oven for about 25 minutes, pears will be juicy and brie will have melted more into the slices.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle pears evenly with chopped pistachios, sprinkling of coconut sugar and maldon salt.
- Serve immediately either by itself or paired with a charcuterie board and crackers.
Wowwwwwww these photos are stunning! How did you shoot this? This sounds really tasty and I can’t wait to try it out as an appetizer. Maybe along side olives would be nice (I don’t eat meat)
Thanks so much sylvia!!!! And i actually used artificial lighting since most of my images this fall/winter will be taken in the evening!!!! Much easier instead of trying to race with the sun. And the saltiness of olives would work really well along side!! Great idea.