Grilled William pears with chestnut honey, chestnuts and mascarpone ice cream recipe by Salt Yard's Ben Tish

Serves 4

The incredibly versatile pear comes into its own in Autumn and I love to get out the bbq and grill them over charcoal. A faint scent of smoke and some charring works wonders with the already delicious fruit, taking into different realms.

Ingredients

4 firm William or conference pears, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and the core removed
2 tablespoons of chestnut honey honey (regular honey would work too)
A few fresh chestnuts very finely sliced (optional)

Mascarpone ice cream

Makes 1kg

500ml milk
125g caster sugar
25g glucose syrup
200ml whipping cream
75g mascarpone

Prepare the barbecue and get it hot. Place milk, glucose and sugar in a pan and heat to a steady 85oc for 5mins-a sugar thermometer is good for this.

Remove from the heat and cool. When cool add the cream and mascarpone and stir well to combine.

Churn in the ice cream machine and freeze.

Once the pears are prepared, place in the fridge uncovered for an hour to naturally dry-this will aid the grilling.

Grill the pear halves on the flat side for 2 minutes over a low grill until nicely charred, then turn over and grill for a further 2 minutes. The pears should still be fairly firm.

Remove from the grill and divide between serving plates.

Spoon over the honey and sprinkle over the chestnuts if you’re using. Top with a scoop of the mascarpone ice cream and serve.