PEAR, GINGER & THYME TARTE TATIN

Good baking requires 2 things - patience and precision. If you patiently follow the recipe, step by step, and measure and time with precision, you can't go wrong. Which is why Heston Blumenthal's latest cooking range with Salter is all about precision. He's developed a range of gadgets including dual platform scales, spatulas, an adjustable rolling pin, balloon whisk and measuring spoons. They're all great kitchen utensils and each has a USP of its own. The spatulas are double ended, the whisk is steadfast, the measuring spoons are super useful, the rolling pin has guides at each end so you can roll to specific thicknesses and the scales measure from 0.1g to 10kg! My brother and his wife bought me a beautiful baking cookbook called Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller that requires measurements of weight in decimal places so I can see the scales being very useful for making those recipes.



However it was one of my own recipes that I wanted to try out using the utensils - a divine ginger, thyme and pear tarte tatin.

Serves 8.... or less, depending on your appetite!

7 quite firm pears
1/2 tbsp. ground ginger
100g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, with beans scraped out of it
100g soft light brown sugar
50g salted butter
1 block puff pastry
3 sprigs of thyme



Preheat the oven to 200C.

Peel, core and quarter the pears. Toss in the ground ginger and vanilla beans, and put to one side.

In your largest frying pan heat the caster and brown sugar over a medium heat. Shake the pan occasionally to make sure the melting sugar incorporates the sugar on top, so that it all starts to caramelise and turn a golden colour. At this stage add the cubed butter, and shake the pan until it's incorporated and melting into the caramelised sugar.

At this stage add the pears into the pan, toss in the buttery caramel, turn down the heat and cook for 5 minutes, tossing the pears every minute to make sure they're properly coated in the sticky goodness.

While the pears start to cook roll the puff pastry block out to a thickness of 5mm using the 5mm handle on the rolling pin. Cut into a circle that's a bit larger than the pan.

Turn the heat off and push all the pears to the side of the pan. Lay the sprigs of thyme in the centre of the pan and then using a spatula, arrange the pear quarters in a neat pattern - I like them facing into the centre, then fill the centre with the remaining pear pieces.

Top the pears with the circle of puff pastry, tucking the sides down into the pan and under the edges of the pears. Using a sharp knife pierce the pastry a few times.

Cover the handle of the pan with tin foil if it's not ovenproof, then place the whole pan in the oven and cook for 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Remove and leave to cool for around 10 minutes then put a plate on top of the pan and flip the whole thing over and get rid of the thyme sprigs.

Serve warm or cold, with cream, ice cream or crème fraiche. I like it served with crème fraiche that's been mixed with a little thyme infused caster or icing sugar.

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On another note, I used the Heston precision range to make this cake, that was an entry into my work's Easter bake off today. The rolling pin was perfect for rolling out all those little flowers! It's a lemon and berry sponge with white chocolate flowers, and all money from the cake sale goes to the British Red Cross "Clean Start" appeal - which aims to supply clean water to thousands of people in Kenya and Bangladesh.