In the abandoned lot behind our house, there is a pear tree. I'm not sure if, in prior years, this tree was stripped early of its fruit or didn't bear fruit, but this year was bountiful. Beloved has been enjoying pears as a treat when he comes home from work, and it is the first place the kids want to go any time we get home from an excursion. Last night was no exception. Walking back to the house with a pear in each hand, Boy declared that he was hungry and wanted pear stew.
O-kay...well, naturally there is Google and there are recipes out there for Stoofperen, pear butter, pears with pork chops, baked pears, all kinds of pear recipes. None of them were quite the thing that I was looking for, nor did I have the ingredients for many of them. Thus, it is nearing midnight and I am stuck on what belongs in a pear stew.
For starters, I want to make it a breakfast thing. I want to have Boy come downstairs in the morning and be able to tell him that I made him pear stew. I want it to be sweet, but have a touch of savory. A good stew has a hearty grain in it. And then, there is the question of "what do I have that needs to be used up?" I pulled out the crock pot, selected a knife, and started opening the cupboards. Here's what I came up with:
Hearty Breakfast Pear Stew
Ingredients:
4 VERY crisp pears, cubed
1/4 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (yet another treat featuring squash from Rain's mother!)
1/2 vidalia onion, diced
1/4 c. steel cut oats
1 pkg bacon, diced (it was a disappointing pack...more fat than meat...after trimming I'd guess about 1 cup of meat went into the pot)
1 1/4 c apple juice
1/3 c honey (gifted to my by Tinman!)
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tea cinnamon
1/8 tea clove
Put everything in the crock pot and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.
I'll let you know the final vote, but MAN it smells good!
