Carmelized Upside-down Pear Pie

This tasty recipe came from my cookbook, Cooking with just four ingredients.
I choose it because we have a lot of pears on our Asian pear trees. If you are considering planting a fruit tree, Asian pears have no pests so they don't require spraying like apples and peaches do. We purchased ours from Stark Bros. catalogue. We need two trees to pollinate, and so we have 2 types of Asian Pears (there are three).
5-6 firm, ripe pears
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
8 oz. shortcrust pastry


1. Peel, core, and slice the pears. Toss with some of the sugar.


Melt the butter in a 10 1/2 ovenproof omelette pan. Ed suggested that I use a non-stick pan, which would have making the removal of the pie from the skillet.

Add remaining sugar. When it changes color, arrange the pears in the pan.

Continue cooking, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has completely caramelized.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out pastry on a lightly floured board, slightly larger than the pan. Lay the pastry on top of the pears and then carefully tuck it in around the edge. My not-so-long fingernails cut the pastry, so be careful!


Bake for 15-20 minutes. Let the pie cool in the pan for a few minutes. To unmold, run a knife around the pan's edge, then using oven gloves, invert a plate over the pan and quickly turn the two over together.

If any pears stick to the pan, remove them gently with a spatula and replace them on the pie. The pie is best served warm.