Pear And Vanilla Upside Down Pancake

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Scrape vanilla seeds form pod into a small bowl and add in sugar. Rub sugar and seeds together to unclump seeds.
2. Into a bowl sift together flour, baking pwdr, baking soda, salt, and 1 Tbsp. vanilla sugar. In a well seasoned 10-inch cast iron skillet heat butter over moderately low heat and remove from heat. In a bowl whisk together buttermilk, Large eggs, and 1 Tbsp. melted butter, leaving remaining butter in skillet, and whisk into flour mix till just combined. Let batter stand 15 min.
3. Peel and core pears and cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick wedges. Add in pears to remaining vanilla sugar with lemon juice, tossing to coat. Arrange pears decoratively in butter remaining in skillet. Sprinkle any remaining sugar mix over pears and cook over moderate heat till barely tender and sugar begins to caramelize, about 8 min.
4. Pour batter proportionately over pears and bake in middle of oven 15 min. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake 15 min more, or possibly till top is golden brown and center is hard to the touch.
5. Immediately run a thin knife around edge of skillet. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Carefully lift skillet off cake and replace any fruit which is stuck to bottom of skillet. Serve pancake with syrup.
6. Yield: 2 servings