Precious Pear Tart with Almond Frangipane and Ginger Nut Crust

Get ahead: Get yourself a deep pan that will snugly fit all the pears in one layer. Pour in the elderflower cordial and 300ml of water, then add the cinnamon, bay and cloves. Use a speed-peeler to add thick strips of orange peel, then squeeze in the juice. Peel the pears, then trim the bottoms off to give each one a flat base. Sit them in the liquor, cover with a scrunched-up sheet of damp greaseproof paper and simmer gently on a medium heat for 20 minutes, or until soft. Remove the pears from the pan and leave to cool. Gently reduce the syrup until thick, then cool, cover everything and refrigerate overnight.

On the day: Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Lightly grease a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin with butter. Blitz the ginger nuts into a fine crumb in a food processor, pulse in 40g of butter, then tip into the tin, patting it across the base and a little up the sides. Blitz the almonds until super-fine in the processor. Add the remaining butter, along with the sugar, eggs, vanilla paste and flour. Blitz until combined, then spoon evenly into the tin. Cut into six of the pears from the stalk down to the base at 1cm intervals, then fan out, nestling the pears into the frangipane, like in the picture. Spoon a little reserved syrup over each pear, then bake the tart for 50 minutes, or until golden and cooked through (covering the edges with tin foil if they start to get too dark).

To serve: Slice and serve warm or cold with the remaining syrup, for drizzling, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and maybe a little glass of amaretto or vin santo.

Love your leftovers: Save the remaining pears for breakfast, brunch, pud or a cheese plate another day.

CALORIES 444kcal FAT 29g SAT FAT 12.3g PROTEIN 6g CARBS 42.7g SUGAR 34g SALT 0.2g FIBRE 1.8g