WINTER // Recipe for four

Burnt pears, frozen milk and molasses sponge

We burn the pears over the fire pit in the garden. If you can’t use a fire for this recipe there isn’t really an alternative for getting the same charred flavour in the pears, but you could use fresh or poached pears instead. You will also need a dehydrator and a cream gun here.

FROZEN MILK

600 ml (21 fl oz) full-cream cow’s milk

100 ml (3½ fl oz) goat’s milk

120 g (4¼ oz) cane sugar

Whisk together all the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved. Pour into a shallow tray and freeze for 2 hours, running a fork through the mixture every 30 minutes as the ice particles form.

BURNT PEARS

4 local pears

100 g (3½ oz) honey

Peel the pears, keeping all the peelings. Use a small knife to remove the flesh from the cores, keeping the flesh for the pear paste, left. Stir the honey into 300 ml (10½ fl oz) water in a saucepan, add the pear cores and poach for 45 minutes over low heat, ensuring the cores still have some resistance.

Meanwhile, if you can, make a small fire. Lift out the pear cores from the saucepan (keeping the liquid) and once gentle coals have appeared put the cores in the fire and char evenly until black. Remove any ash from the pear cores and put in a dehydrator for 1 hour on 90°C (194°F).

Put the pear peelings into the poaching liquid in the saucepan and simmer until the skins are translucent. Strain the liquid and keep it in the saucepan to use in the pear paste, right.

Arrange the peelings, flat, skin side up, on a baking tray and dehydrate these at 65°C (149°F) for 4 hours.

PEAR PASTE

Pear flesh from burnt pears (left)

Poaching liquid from burnt pears (left)

12 g (½ oz) agar agar

4 pepper berries, crushed

Put the pear flesh in the saucepan of poaching liquid and simmer over low heat until soft. Set aside to cool. Add the agar agar and heat to 80°C (176°F). Place in the fridge until cold and set, and then purée until very smooth. Add the crushed pepper berries.

MOLASSES SPONGE

130 g (4³/₄ oz) plain white flour

1 egg yolk

310 ml (10³/₄ fl oz) cream

50 g (1³/₄ oz) molasses

2 teaspoons salt

7 eggs

160 g (5³/₄ oz) fine cane sugar

Mix together all the ingredients and then purée. Add to a cream gun and charge with two gas chargers. Once charged, take a plastic cup and three-quarter fill it with the mixture; repeat with three more cups. Microwave on high (100%) for 40 seconds.

PLANTS TO FINISH

Thyme flowers