A little bit of heat in September’s kitchen!

There’s a little extra heat in the kitchen today with this warming pear recipe! We haven’t had a harvest from our newly planted pear trees but some very good friends of ours in our old village in North Yorkshire sent us home after a visit with a couple of bags full as they’d had a bumper crop!

They’ll store for a few weeks in a cool dark shed but you have to keep an eye on them as they can go over suddenly! Keep feeling the neck of the fruit for a clue that they’re getting soft enough to eat.

This is one of the recipes that we cooked up at Malvern Autumn Show and RHS Harlow Carr Garden Autumn Weekend this month so if you came to see us and fancy having a go at the recipe then here it is!

Caramelised chilli and ginger pears

Serve 2 Takes about 10 minutes

30g butter

25g brown sugar (I use the dark for an extra deep flavour)

¼ tspn ground ginger

¼ chilli, deseeded and diced

2 peeled ripe pears, chopped or sliced into thin wedges

2 slices ginger cake

Crème fraiche or cream to serve

Heat a small frying pan and add the butter, sugar, ginger and chill. Stir to melt the butter and dissolve the sugar and leave to cook gently for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally

Add the pears and stir to coat in the caramelised sauce. Cook gently for about 4-5 minutes until tender

Cut your cake slices in half and top with the pear pieces. Pour over all the caramel sauce.

Top with a good dollop of crème fraiche, lightly whipped double cream or some vanilla ice cream

Make a double batch of the pears and keep in the fridge – they’re lovely on top of rice pudding or just with some custard!