Pear and caramel pancakes

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, plus cooling

Serves 4

Buy a good-quality salted caramel sauce for these.

INGREDIENTS For the poached pears

– 4 Conference pears

– 600g sugar (you can use caster or granulated)

– juice of 1 lemon

– 4 sprigs of thyme, plus more to serve

For the pancakes

– 2 eggs

– 320g self-raising flour

– 1 tsp caster sugar

– 660ml buttermilk or kefir

– 70ml melted, cooled butter or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the pan

To serve

– salted caramel sauce

– whipped or double cream as you prefer, mixed with a little Greek yogurt, to taste

– crushed toasted hazelnuts, cashews or almonds (optional)

–1 lemon

– a little icing sugar

METHOD

Peel the pears, leaving the stalks intact, and slice off a sliver of the base of each one.

To poach the pears, place two litres of water in a pan and add the sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to barely a simmer and add the lemon juice and thyme sprigs.

Add the whole pears and cook for about 30 minutes until they are tender but not soft; the time will depend on how ripe they are. Let them cool in the poaching liquid before halving each one lengthways.

Meanwhile, make the pancake batter as per the American pancakes recipe, and cook them accordingly. You should end up with 10-12.

Serve a stack of three pancakes per person, topped with two halves of pear, a spoonful of salted caramel sauce, a small dollop of cream, some crushed nuts, if using, a sprig or two of thyme and some lemon zest either grated or removed with a zester. Lightly dust with icing sugar if you wish.