WHAT YOU DO
Step 1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
Step 2. Peel the pears, cut in half and scoop out the cores using a teaspoon or melon baller (retro!), then arrange in a large shallow, lidded cast-iron pan.
Step 3. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, honey, glacé ginger and cinnamon stick. Pour in 650 ml water and stir until everything combines. Bring to the boil over medium heat, then quickly pour over the pears in the cast-iron pan and place the lid on.
Step 4. Transfer to the oven and poach for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, then carefully pour off the liquid into a saucepan. Drop the butter cubes around the pears and roast for another 30 minutes, until golden and burnished, basting the pears with the melted butter if some are looking glossier than others.
Step 5. Meanwhile, boil the reserved poaching liquid vigorously until reduced by half into a syrup.
Step 6. To make the custard, warm the milk and vanilla (including the pod if using a vanilla bean) in a saucepan until just before boiling. As the milk gets close to a simmer, whisk the eggs, cornflour and sugar together in a large heatproof bowl. Pour the hot milk mixture over the eggs and whisk together until incorporated, then pour the whole lot back into the pan and place back over low heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon for 7–10 minutes; the key here is to get the mixture hot, but not to let it boil, or the eggs will curdle. To check when the custard is ready, run your finger through the custard on the wooden spoon — if the line you’ve drawn in the custard stays straight, and the custard doesn’t immediately drip back into the pan, it’s ready to go (see page 260). The custard should be the consistency of silky pouring cream, and will thicken up more as it cools.
Step 7. When the custard is ready, pour it through a fine-meshed sieve into a bowl, to get rid of any pesky lumps, and to catch the vanilla pod, if using. (Note: you don’t want to leave the custard in the hot pan, as the residual heat will continue to cook it.) Taste for sweetness and stir in the nutmeg.
Step 8. Serve the poached pears generously drizzled with custard and finish with the syrup. For extra value, add some crunch by crowning with a spoonful of golden granola, if you like.
TIPS:
- The recipe for the golden granola clusters can be found on page 133 of The Joy of Better Cooking or you can use granola of your choice instead.
- The pears can be prepared a day ahead to the end of the poaching stage. To serve, gently reheat in the oven, covered with foil. If you’re not using the custard right away, you can stop a skin forming on top by placing some plastic wrap directly onto the mixture. You can absolutely make it ahead and reheat on low temperature with the odd stir when ready to serve.
DOUBLE DUTY
Any left-over poached pears make a beautiful addition to breakfasts such as French toast, and served atop porridge with some plain yoghurt and a drizzle of honey. Leave the cornflour out of the custard, double the batch and use it to make an crème caramel (page 274), or as an ice-cream base by chilling and churning in an ice-cream maker.
SHORTCUTS
The oven-poached pears are delicious simply served with cream, perhaps sprinkled withchopped lightly toasted nuts such as almonds or pecans.
WORTH IT
You’ll find glacé ginger in the dried fruit section of supermarkets. It’s usually added to desserts more for the sweetness it brings than any actual gingeriness (its gentle heat notwithstanding), and because there’s so much sugar involved, it’s like a dry jam, so will last for ages in the pantry. You can add it to cakes, cookies and use it any time you’re roasting fruits of any kind.
INGREDIENT SPOTLIGHT: NUTMEG AND MACE
More nut than meg, these spherical orbs of spicy warmth can be used to add a woody aroma to everything from mashed potatoes to the top of your chai latte. Anything creamy, whether savoury or sweet, will benefit from a bit of nutmeg.
Buy your nutmeg whole, rather than ground, as it does lose its spicy intensity as soon as it’s ground. To use whole nutmeg, just ‘rasp’ it by running a fine grater over it as needed. As a measure, a ‘rasp’ of nutmeg is about as specific as a pinch of salt, because it does depend on the intensity of the nutmeg you’ve purchased. Usually, grating enough nutmeg to be visible (two or three back and forths with the grater) is plenty, as nutmeg is very aromatic, and the flavour can lean towards medicinal if you add too much.
Nutmeg’s sister spice is mace, which is a bit like the nut’s leathery jacket. It has a sharper flavour than nutmeg — slightly smoky, less sweet, yet still heavily aromatic with a blend of black pepper and pine needle. You can use it whole to flavour dishes cooked low and slow, such as braises and curries, and in sweet fillings for pies and crumbles. As with nutmeg, if you buy it ground, be sure to use it fairly quickly, as its compounds are highly volatile and dissipate quickly.
Recipe extracted from The Joy of Better Cooking: Life-changing skills & thrills for enthusiastic eaters by Alice Zaslavsky (Murdoch Books, RRP £25/€28). Photography by Ben Dearnley.
