Grilled pears in honey and cinnamon with vanilla mascarpone

Autumn

I was first cooked this by River Cottage chef Conner Reed. It was absolutely delicious – so much so that it’s now become a firm favourite of mine. If the pears are ripe they won’t take long to cook so the fire can be a little hotter; if they are on the firm side, take things a bit slower, giving the fruit time to tenderise.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 medium-large pears
2 tbsp honey
1 small vanilla pod, split lengthways, seeds removed and reserved
½ cinnamon stick
200g mascarpone
1 tbsp icing sugar
50g flaked almonds, toasted

Method

Prepare your fire. You want a bed of moderately hot embers with no real flames.

Set a grill over the fire; it will have reached the right temperature when you can hover your hand above it for no more than 3 seconds.

To prepare the pears, cut each one into 6 equal wedges and remove the core. Place flesh side down on the hot grill and colour lightly on all sides. Meanwhile, put the honey, empty vanilla pod and cinnamon stick in a cast-iron pan on the grill and warm gently.

Once the pears are brown, add them to the pan and let them soften gently in the bubbling honey; this should take around 5 minutes.

In the meantime, in a bowl, mix the mascarpone with the vanilla seeds and icing sugar to combine.

Once the pears are soft, place spoonfuls of the mascarpone in the pan, along with the toasted almonds, and allow the mascarpone to melt slightly. Serve immediately.

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