Pear and cardamom tarte tatin

Name: Pear and cardamom tarte tatin
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 10 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 10 cardamom pods, seeds removed and roughly crushed; ¼ tsp ground ginger; ¼ tsp ground cinnamon; 50 g salted butter; 150 g caster sugar; 5 conference, comice or concorde pears, peeled, halved and cored (approx. 4-5); 250 g all butter puff pastry

A delightfully warm and deliciously sweet tart that's bound to impress guests at a dinner party.

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Vegetarian

Serves8
CourseDessert
Prepare20 mins
Cook1 hr 10 mins
Total time1 hr 30 mins
Pluscooling

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Ingredients

10 cardamom pods, seeds removed and roughly crushed
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
50g salted butter
150g caster sugar
5 conference, comice or concorde pears, peeled, halved and cored (approx. 4-5)
250g all butter puff pastry

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C, gas mark 7. Mix together the crushed cardamom seeds and spices. Melt the butter in a 20cm heavy-based, ovenproof frying pan. Remove from the heat, sprinkle in the sugar and stir. Set over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved, then turn up the heat a little and cook for about 5 minutes, giving it the odd shake, until it turns a mid-brown caramel.
Turn down the heat. Sprinkle in the spice mixture, then add the pear halves, rounded-side down; the fruit needs to be snug in the pan, so squeeze in an extra piece or two, if needed. Bubble very gently in the sauce for about 25 minutes, then transfer the pears to a plate and put the sauce back on a high heat, reducing until it is thick and syrupy. Rearrange the pears in the pan, still rounded-side down, and leave to cool for 5 minutes.
Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin. Cut around a plate to make a circle 1cm wider than your pan. Place on top of the pears and tuck in around the edges. Prick all over with a fork and pierce a hole in the centre to help steam escape. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until well risen and golden. Cool for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto a large plate. Serve warm, in slices, with crème fraîche, cream or vanilla ice cream, if liked.