Wild pears in raspberry

by Leah Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 1 cup muscat liqueur
  • 2 cups raspberries
  • 2 cups caster sugar
  • 1 piece chinchona bark
  • 6 ripe wild pears
  • 600ml thickened cream
  • 125g icing sugar
  • seeds of 1 vanilla bean
  • 2 Tbsp nigella seeds
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ΒΌ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1 Tbsp Demerara sugar

Instructions

1 Combine the liqueur, raspberries, caster sugar, chinchona bark and 1L water in a large saucepan and set over a moderate heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve into a second saucepan.
2 Peel and core the pears, add to the syrup, then cook gently for 20 minutes, until just tender. Cool in the syrup.
3 Whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla in a. bowl over an ice bath, until soft peaks form. Crush the nigella, spices and Demerara sugar in a mortar. Serve the pears with cream, seeds and a little poaching syrup.