Roasted Pears With Gorgonzola

We had employee appreciation day at work - it was awesome!  There were five surprises throughout the day... first we walked in to the smell of Belgian Waffles.  We could pick our own toppings.  My waffle had an "A" for Ashley :)

Second, everyone had one of these at their desk - how cute!  Mine had Coconut M&Ms... they were yummy!!

We had 15-minute chair massages, an awesome lunch from Mama's on the Half Shell (cheeseburger sliders, mini crab cakes  and the best mac & cheese ever!), and last, they closed the office early!  It was such a fun day I had to take a nap as soon as I got home!

I also got a really nice fruit basket from my boss.  I decided to do something fancy with the pears... so the next day I made Roasted Pears with Gorgonzola.  (Here is the website where I found the recipe)  I tried this once at a restaurant in NYC and it was so good, so I couldn't wait to have it again.

Ingredients:
4 Bosc pears, halved and cored, but not peeled
Extra-virgin olive oil
A few pinches of dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup crumbled good-quality blue cheese / gorgonzola
1/4 cup walnut pieces
2 tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Arrange the pears, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, honey and sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.

3. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake 15-20 minutes.

4. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and spoon a generous teaspoon of crumbled cheese in the center of each pear half, return the pears to the oven and roast until they are tender and the cheese is soft, about 5-10 more minutes.

Modifications:

• I did not have any thyme, so I left that out.
• I also left out the walnuts.

My dad bought me Gorgonzola at the Eastern market. 

As soon as I opened it, I was totally grossed out... LOL!  I love blue cheese, so I don't know why this bothered me.  I ate one of the pears and it was ok... but I gave the rest to my parents... along with the rest of the cheese!