When thinking about what to do with all those pears most of what I came up with was dessert. After flipping through some magazines and a few google searches, I managed to find a couple of savory applications for them too. The first one I tried was pear ketchup. Because I had never heard of anything other than tomato ketchup I was a little worried, but since the ingredient list sounded good I gave it a shot. I’m really glad I did. It tasted amazing. The pears sautéed with onions smelled wonderful and tasted even better. I was a little nervous about adding the cider vinegar, but it added a really nice tang to the pears (and really, a ketchup needs vinegar.)
I needed to come up with something to put the ketchup on as well. The website I found the recipe on (which is currently not working) had the ketchup on bacon and blue cheese sliders. I liked the idea of a slider, but wanted something a little healthier than a chunk of bacon. Instead I made mini chicken burgers with brie. The ketchups tang went really well with the creaminess of the brie.
Pear Ketchup
- 3 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored and diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 cup apple cider
- salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- In a medium pot, saute the onions until translucent. Add the pears, season with salt and pepper. Add the cider and bring to a boil.
- Lower the temperature and simmer for 1 hour.
- Using an immersion blender, puree the pear mixture. Add the cider vinegar and stir to combine.
For the mini chicken burgers I basically made things up as I went along. I have no idea what quantities I used so I’ll just give you a list of ingredients. I still haven’t really figured out my grill, but these turned out pretty juicy and tasty.
Chicken Sliders
- ground extra lean chicken
- 1 egg
- semolina flour
- salt and pepper
- onion powder
- dried thyme
- slider buns
- brie cheese
- pear ketchup
- lettuce
- In a large bowl, mix ground chicken, egg, flour, and spices until well combined. Shape into small burgers (they will be very sticky)
- Cook on a hot grill until 7 minutes a side.
- Place in slider buns and top with cheese, ketchup and lettuce. (you know, make a burger)
Enjoy!