More luxurious than the following recipe and great served hot, with a little sour cream or crème fraîche.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter

　　4 not quite fully ripe pears, preferably Bosc, peeled, quartered, and cored

　　1/4 cup sugar, or to taste

　　1/3 cup heavy cream

　　1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

　　

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Put the butter in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat. When the butter foam subsides, add the pears and sugar; cook, turning the pears occasionally and allowing them to brown a bit, until quite soft, 15 to 20 minutes (longer if the pears were not nearly ripe).

　　

Step 2

Add the cream and cinnamon and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens a bit, about a minute. Put the skillet in the oven and cook until the mixture browns on top, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve hot or at room temperature.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.