Cheese Stuffed Pears

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup dolcetatte cheese

1 tbsp. honey

1/2 celery stick, finely sliced

8 green olives pitted and roughly chopped

4 dates, stoned and cut into thin strips

Pinch of paprika

4 ripe pears

2/3 cup apple juice.

Preheat oven to 400.  Place the ricotta in a bowl and crumble in the dolcelatte.  Add the rest of the ingredients except for the pears and apple juice and mix well. 

Halve the pears lengthwise and use a melon baller or spoon to remove the cores.  Place in an ovenproof dish and divide the filling equally between them, filling the core crevasses.   Pour in the apple juice and cover the dish with foil.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the pears are tender. 

Remove the foil and place the dish under a hot grill for 3 minutes to brown the top lightly.  Serve immediately.

This is one of those dishes I prepare when I'm doing a multi course dinner for guests.  This is a shame.  I should make this just for me.  Just by itself ... but it's such a great transitional dish.  Somewhere between the salad and the seafood or the vegetable pie, or after these dishes and in preparation for desert it tantalizes the taste buds with a flavour that is truly unique.

I have a friend who is invited to all my special dinners.  It is not a feast without him.  The first time I served this dish, I discovered that when he is really enjoying his food, he groans.  He groans in a deep, throaty, mantric tune that tells every inch of my soul that I've pleased my guests

Preheat Oven To: 400

Serves:  4 - 8