Chocolate dipped pears with pistachio toffee crumbs

Chocolate dipped pears with pistachio toffee crumbs
Serves: 4
For the pears

• 4 firm but ripe pears, like Conference
• 1 litre pomegranate juice

For the pistachio toffee

• 100g caster sugar
• 70g butter
• pinch of salt
• 40g roasted shelled pistachios

• 100g dark chocolate

Method

1. Peel the pears leaving the stalk in place. Bring the pomegranate juice to the boil then reduce the heat, lower in the pears, and simmer gently for 10 minutes, or until just tender. (If you can’t be bothered with pomegranate juice, just make a poaching liquid with 150g caster sugar and 1 litre water).
2. While the pears are poaching, make the toffee. Place the sugar, butter and salt in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Stir continuously. Initially the mixture will look like a curdled mess but keep stirring as it bubbles: the butter and sugar will amalgamate and start to caramelise. You need to get it to the hard-crack stage. This took me about 5 minutes. To see if it’s ready, drop a fingernail-sized amount into a glass of water and if it turns hard immediately, it’s ready. Be vigilant – this burns easily.
3. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and then pour on the toffee. It should spread out in a contained way into a lovely glossy puddle. Scatter over the pistachios, gently pressing them into the toffee if necessary. Set aside to cool and harden.
4. When the pears are done, lift them out of the liquid and gently place them on kitchen towel. Pat dry, cool a little and then chill.
5. When the toffee has hardened completely – it should be brittle – break most of into pieces and blitz in a food processor. This makes way more crumb than you need, so set some of the toffee sheet aside to eat on its own or to serve with the pears.
6. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Place the pears on a chopping board. (It might help to trim the bottoms slightly so the fruit stands upright.) Pour the chocolate over the pears so that they are completely covered, then sprinkle over some of the pistachio toffee crumbs.
7. Set the pears aside until the chocolate sets, or chill if you’re in a hurry. Serve with a shard of the pistachio toffee and maybe a dollop of mascarpone, cream or ice cream.