Fall brings so many wonderful treats: warm recipes, holiday spirits, and of course, an abundant supply of apples and pears. This recipe comes from the October 2009 issue of Foods Matter, and it embodies all three of these wonderful traits.

The original recipe, as noted below, uses ginger wine. Stone's Ginger Wine is quite common in London, and can be found in liquor stores throughout England, and occasionally elsewhere. But a lack of Stone's is no reason to shy away from this recipe. You can make your own ginger wine at home using this New Ginger Wine recipe (which has easy to find ingredients) or this more Traditional Ginger Wine recipe. Or, in a pinch, substitute brandy or even sherry for the wine, and some sweetener and extra ginger to taste, if desired.

You can enjoy this recipe on its own, or allow a generous scoop of dairy-free ice cream to melt over top. We like some of the great coconut milk-based ice creams, but if you are in the U.K., the folks at Foods Matter highly recommend BoojaBooja Winjin Ginger nut-based ice cream.

Pears Baked with Ginger

Recipe from Foods Matter, October 2009

This recipe is Vegan, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, and Corn-Free

• 6 ripe pears, cored with an apple corer
• small to medium knob of fresh ginger (depending how keen you are on ginger), peeled and cut in very thin slices
• 2 tbsp pecan nuts (or pine nuts if you are allergic to pecans)
• 2 tbsp raisins (optional)
• approx 1/2 cup ginger wine

Heat the oven to 180D/350F/Gas Mark 4.

Arrange the cored pears in an ovenproof baking dish.

Insert the ginger slithers mixed with the pecan, or pine nuts and raisins if using, down the central hole, sprinkling any extra around the pears.

Pour around the ginger wine – it should be about 2cm deep – then cover the pears with aluminium foil and bake for 30–40 minutes depending on how ripe the pears were.

Serve whole or halved, as in the picture, with the extra juice and any spare nuts or fruit.

SERVES 6 – PPER PPORTION
127cals – 1g protein
4g total fat – 0.5g sat / 2g mono / 1g poly
20g carbohydrate of which 20g sugar
3.5g fibre – trace sodium / trace salt