10
Easy
20 minutes
1 hour
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place the lemon zest and juice, honey, peppercorns and bay leaves in a saucepan. Slit the vanilla pods in half lengthways, scrape out the seeds and add them, along with the pods, to the saucepan.
Cook, stirring, over a gentle heat until the honey has melted (about 5 minutes).
Slice each pear in half, lengthways, and remove the seeds. Pour half the honey lemon sauce into an ovenproof baking dish and arrange the pear halves in a single layer, cut sides down, on top.
Pour the rest of the sauce over them.
Bake for 25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 160°C, remove the baking tray and turn the pear halves over.
Scoop some of the sauce over the pears and bake for a further 15 minutes.
Turn the pear halves over again and bake them for 15 more minutes.
Pierce the pears with a skewer to test whether they are done – the flesh should be easily pierced but the fruit should still hold its shape. Remove the pears from the baking dish, pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan and reduce to a syrupy consistency.
Serve the pears at room temperature, with a good dollop of mascarpone cheese or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, drizzled with the syrup.
