Fruit as the dessert course: Sautéed Pears with Thyme and Ice Cream

Pear slices sautéed with butter and fresh thyme and topped with ice cream and lemon zest create a fresh, decadent dessert. Recipe below.

Sometimes, dinner parties can be all glossy and elaborate, with candlelight, multiple extravagant courses and multiple opportunities to overindulge. And while this dessert would hold its own in that setting, it came out of the other kind of dinner party. The over-the-top informal kind that can only be shared with really old friends—and that is every bit as much fun.

We spent Sunday afternoon wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing with our friend Casey. We’ve known her longer than we’ve known our own daughters, so when we got back to our apartment, we were totally comfortable convening in the kitchen to throw together a simple dinner.

For Casey, cooking is a spectator sport, but she can always be counted on to bring wine. She kept it flowing while I put together one of my go-to appetizers, an endive salad with blue cheese and pecans, and Marion started a big pot of her chili. Once it was simmering, the party (and the salad and the wine) moved into the living room.

We all still had a pretty good art buzz going from the museum visit. Conversation turned to a documentary Marion and I had seen, Herb & Dorothy, about a New York City postal worker and librarian who amassed one of the most impressive private collections of contemporary art in the world and then gave it away. Between bites of endive and blue cheese, I fired it up on Netflix. And that was that. When the chili was ready, we balanced bowls on our laps and continued watching. The dining table, with its brocade tablecloth and unlit candles, sat ignored.

The art collecting couple segued into a second documentary, Bill Cunningham New York, and Marion returned to the kitchen to make dessert. While Casey and I watched The New York Times’s renowned octogenarian fashion photographer/reporter/chronicler bicycle around Manhattan capturing street fashion, Marion whipped up her delicious take on Bananas Foster. Again, the dining room saw no action as we enjoyed our dessert.

The still warm bananas melting into the rich vanilla ice cream—and the warmth of the whole embarrassingly casual dinner party—got me thinking about other fruits to sauté and serve with ice cream. Pears came immediately to mind. They’re beautiful, readily available and seasonal even now, as I learned when I made Pear Blue Cheese Bacon Pizza in December. Next, I remembered how nicely the thyme played with the lamb in last week’s recipe, and Marion suggested lemon zest, to add a little brightness.

The recipe below is as simple and casual as our dinner party was. We really loved it as is, especially the way the thyme and lemon zest worked together. But feel free to improvise.

Sautéed Pears with Thyme and Ice Cream
Serves 2 (can be doubled)

1 tablespoon or so of butter
1 ripe pear (see Kitchen Notes)
about 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, divided (see Kitchen Notes)
zest of 1/2 lemon
vanilla ice cream (see Kitchen Notes)

A quick note: Get everything prepped before you slice the pear. Otherwise, much like  an apple, it may discolor.

Cut up about 1 tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick skillet. Core the pear and turn on a medium-low flame under the pan. As the butter melts, halve the pear lengthwise and slice each half into 4 wedges. Swirl the butter in the pan to coat the bottom; if it’s not quite covering it, add a little more butter.

Add the pears to the pan and sauté on the cut sides until lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes total. Turn occasionally and gently. I used a spatula and a wooden spoon. As they cook, the pear slices will soften, and you don’t want to beat them up. About halfway through the cooking time, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the fresh thyme leaves in the pan, on and around the pears. As you continue to turn the pears, thyme leaves will cling to them.

When the pear slices are nicely browned, divide them between 2 shallow bowls or small rimmed plates. Nestle 1 or 2 small scoops of ice cream among the slices. (I know there’s one in the photo—it looks lovely that way, but when we ate this, we both went back for a little more ice cream.) Sprinkle with more fresh thyme leaves and lemon zest. Serve.

Kitchen Notes

Which pear and is it ripe? Just about any variety of pear will work for this; I used Anjou. As I learned from Pear Bureau Northwest, the best way to tell if a pear is ripe is to “check the neck.” Using your thumb, apply gentle pressure to the neck or stem end. If it yields slightly, the pear is ripe.

Fresh thyme, please. In many recipes, substituting dried herbs for fresh works just fine. For this, you need fresh. The thyme doesn’t disappear into a slow-cooked sauce. You’re eating barely cooked and uncooked leaves in this dish; dried will feel like tiny twigs in your mouth.

I scream, you scream, etcetera. We rarely have ice cream in the house—insane calories and fat content and all. But this dish demands it, I think. There’s something about its richness and creamy mouth feel that frozen yogurt just can’t match.

One final note. If you haven’t seen the two documentaries mentioned above, do. They’re fascinating.