savoury sweet roasted pears with rosemary

pears. they are culinary jewels; the humble variety.  i'm not going to get all Tom Robbins'y on you or anything, but his love for beets, which i share, could be compared to my love of pears. mmm. the granular, but smooth and buttery sweetness of a perfectly ripe bartlett...week in the knees baby.  i love their velvety texture and love cooking with them because of it.  

savoury.  sweet.  boom.  lets do this!  i make these lil babies all the time.  serve them with dinner on our Thanksgiving plates, bring them to potlucks, and chop up any that are leftover and top homemade waffles, pancakes or crepes with a dollop of greek yogurt and pure maple syrup the next day!!! oh geez.  my mouth is watering.

• preheat oven to 400 degrees
• slice your pears in half lengthwise. bosc is best but you can use pretty much any variety (except asian) for this.  they do not even need to fully ripe.  the slow roasting will bring out the pear flave ever so perfectly.
• using a mellon baller or a small spoon, scoop out the seed core in the middle.  you can leave the stems on.  i think they are pretty.
• squeeze a half of a lemon over them.  this will prevent them from oxidizing and turning brown.
• drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  i go hard on the pepper.  love the earthy spice with the pears.  
• i put them in a cast iron, personally, but if you do not have one, a baking dish is fine.
• pop them in the oven and roast until they get all delish, soft, and roasty looking.  about 35 mins....sometimes i let them go forever....sometimes i want them to be firmer. sometimes i forget to serve them on the dinner plate and act like i toooootally meant to do it and blend up some whip cream with maple, a vanilla bean (or extract) and a tini sprinkle of black pepper. oh. my. gawd. sooooo divine.
• enjoy. rinse. repeat.