Pear & star anise tarte tatin tip
SERVES 4 6 PREP 25 mins plus three days chilling and resting COOK 1 hr MORE EFFORT
V5 6 large or 8 small
conference pears
100g cold butter
320g pack ready-rolled all-butter
pu pastry
100g caster sugar
2 star anise
1 Peel, quarter and core the pears, then leave them in the fridge for three days, so they dry out a little.
2 Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/ gas 5. Remove the butter from the fridge and allow it to soften slightly, about 15-20 mins. Unroll the pastry and cut into a 24cm diameter circle (the same size or a little larger than the top diameter of the frying pan you use in the next step). Put it back on its baking parchment and place in the fridge to chill.
3 Meanwhile, squash the butter into an ovenproof pan that is 20cm at the base. Ensure it is an even layer, then scatter over the sugar.
4 Grate the star anise evenly over the sugar. Place the first piece of pear on the sugared butter, with its tip pointing towards the middle. Lay the rest of the pear quarters in the pan in the same way to make a circle, overlapping them slightly.
5 Place the pan over medium-high heat for about 10 mins, until the butter and sugar begin to bubble and
Recipe adapted from Marcus Everyday by Marcus Wareing (£20, Harper Nonfiction) Photography by Susan Bell. Marcus will appear on Masterchef: The Professionals with Monica Galetti and Gregg Wallace, starting November on BBC One and BBC iplayer. a golden caramel begins to form. Remove the pastry from the fridge and place it on top of the pears, tucking any overhanging pastry inside the pan. Bake in the oven for about 45 mins until the pastry is cooked through and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for about 5-7 mins before placing a plate on top of the pan and inverting onto the plate. Slice and serve warm with cream or ice cream, if you like.
GOOD TO KNOW 1 of 5-a-day
PER SERVING 6 475 kcals • fat 28g • saturates 15g • carbs 49g • sugars 33g • ibre 5g • protein 4g • salt 0.8g
You can make the whole thing a day ahead – just don’t turn it out of the pan until you’re ready to serve. Heat it up on the hob to get the caramel loose again, put it in the oven brie ly to warm it through, then it will be just as good as if you’d cooked it that day.