This takes pears poached in wine to a whole new level. These golden jellies are light, fragrant and refreshing, and not overly sweet. The booze is completely burnt off, so they are not alcoholic. It makes an excellent dessert after a curry or for a Xmas lunch when you want something special but not too heavy.

Jelly:-

500ml dry white wine

1¼ tbsp lemon juice

90g caster sugar

10 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

scraped seeds of half a vanilla pod plus the pod

¼ tsp saffron threads

a pinch of turmeric

1 large firm pear – about 200g – peeled and quartered

4 gelatine leaves, soaked in cold water for a few minutes - or agar

Topping:-

80g mascarpone

60ml Greek yoghurt

a little agave syrup to taste

• Pour the wine into a medium saucepan along with the lemon juice, sugar, saffron, cardamom, turmeric, and vanilla. Heat gently, stirring in the sugar until it dissolves then add the pear quarters. Bring to the boil, and simmer gently with the lid on for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pear is soft

• Remove from the heat and lift out the pear quarters. Leave the liquid to cool for 20 minutes, and then sieve the liquid into a measuring jug. Top up with cold water to bring it up to 500ml – you may not need to add any water depending on the absorbency of the pears. Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves and stir into the liquid

• Discard the pear’s seeds and core, and dice into 1 cm cubes. Divide them between 4 glasses. Pour over the liquid. Put in the fridge and chill until set

• Before serving, whip together the mascarpone, yoghurt and agave until smooth and not too sweet. Serve with a dollop in top of each jelly