Pear Flambé

I decided to have a little fun tonight, and heat things up in the kitchen. {Pun fully intended. 😉 }

My favourite dessert when Joe and I went to this awesome all-inclusive resort in Mexico was a pear flambé. Just so no one is mistaken, the food at this resort was something else… It is an understatement to say that the food there was artistic. This resort didn’t do “buffet”. Each meal was prepared by talented chefs, and looked like something that belonged in a food magazine. We were very spoiled with every meal, and were very fortunate to have gotten such a great deal on the price for our vacation. Even our breakfasts were to die for! The french toast, oh my gosh… Don’t even get me started! 🙂

Needless to say, since that trip, I have been craving a pear flambé, but refuse to go to any restaurant that is snooty enough to serve that as a dessert. 😉 So, here’s my little adventure with the pear flambé!

This recipe makes enough for one. (Joe had to work, so I only had myself to make this for…) To make two servings, just add another pear, and increase the other ingredients accordingly. Enjoy! 🙂

Nikki’s Pear Flambé

Ingredients:

• 1 pear
• 1 tbsp lemon juice + 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash nutmeg
• 2 tsp each vanilla and maple extract
• 1 tbsp butter
• book of matches (I don’t have a gas stove, so I use matches to ignite my flame…)
• 1/2 cup warm vodka (Warm vodka will ignite easier than cold. I prefer a tasteless alcohol like vodka, but you can use brandy, sherry or rum if you like also. Or even any other alcohol that has a high percentage. Try to use one that is above 35% as a higher alcohol percentage will ignite easier. I’ve been told that anything lower in percentage may not ignite at all.)
• Note: this dish will not make you drunk… 😉

Method:

• Peel the pear, ensuring to maintain as much of the original shape as possible.
• Slice the pear in half lengthwise, and scoop out the core of each half. (When doing this, I actually leave about 1 cm of pear between each half I slice off, then discard the middle slice. It’s mildly wasteful, but it makes each half look prettier because there is less core left over to scoop out, leaving you with a cute little hole in the inside of each pear half instead of a large chunk.)
• Place each half in a bowl with the water and lemon juice.
• In a deep frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter.
• Just as the butter has melted, place each pear half in the pan sliced side down.
• Mix the cinnamon, brown sugar, and nutmeg together in a small bowl.
• Sprinkle and rub the sugar mixture over each pear half.
• Drizzle the vanilla and maple extract over each pear half.
• Drizzle 1/4 cup of the orange juice over the pears.
• Increase the heat to medium-high, and cook for 5 minutes. You want to make a slight reduction of the juice, sugar and butter in the pan.
• Just as the mixture gets bubbly, add the vodka.
• You can do this  part either on the stove, or by the sink for safety reasons. DO NOT do this near anything that may catch fire. Also, roll up any long sleeves, and tie long hair back. If you have any pets, keep them out of the kitchen. Place the pan on a solid surface, and light a match. With your face far enough back from the pan, lightly bring the match to the liquid. If it does not ignite right away, just keep trying with new matches. (It took me 1/2 a box of matches just to get the liquid to light…) Make sure there is nothing directly above where the flame will be.
• Once the liquid has caught fire, holding the pan a safe distance from your face and body, gently “swoosh” the liquid around the pan, ensuring that it passes through the pears the entire time. Don’t “swoosh” too hard, otherwise the flame will go out or you may spill the liquid.
• Continue this until the flame starts to go out. (After 5 minutes, if the flame has not gone out, blow it out. My flame somehow kept going for about 3 minutes… Didn’t burn the pears, but I ended up blowing it out.)
• Return the pan to the stove at medium-high heat, and add the remaining orange juice.
• Cook until bubbly for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
• Transfer the pear to a plate. (I don’t bring any of the liquid to the plate, but you can if you like.)
• Serve right away, with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt, vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

peeled and cored

oj, vodka, brown sugar + cinnamon, maple and vanilla extract

sugar and spice, and everything nice...

in the pan, ready to ignite

fire!

back to the stove with juice

aw, pear heart... ❤

served with frozen yogurt. 🙂