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Roasted pears with chilli chocolate

These soft and juicy pears look and taste stunning, bathed in a sweet and mildly chilli-flavoured chocolate sauce. Seves 6. From Waitrose

1½ Lemons, juice of (about 5 tbsp)
6 Ripe pears
4 tbsp Clear honey
150ml Dry white wine
2 tbsp Icing sugar
25g Slightly salted butter
100g bar Lindt Chilli Chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200°C, gas mark 6. Put the lemon juice in a bowl. Using an apple corer or a swivel potato peeler, scoop out the core at the thick end of each pear, taking care to keep the fruit intact. Peel the pears, leaving the stalks attached, and coat each thoroughly in the lemon juice to stop discolouration. Place upright in a small roasting tin, trimming the bases slightly if necessary, to keep them stable.

Blend the lemon juice left in the bowl with the honey and spoon over the pears. Pour the wine into the tin and cook the pears in the oven for 30 minutes, basting several times with the juices, until the pears are very tender. Remove from the oven and increase the temperature to 230°C, gas mark 8.

Dust each pear generously with icing sugar and return to the oven for a further 4-5 minutes, to give a glossy sheen. Remove from the oven and transfer the pears to a plate.

Add the butter and chocolate to the juices left in the tin and cook on the hob over a gentle heat, stirring until the chocolate and butter have melted and the sauce is smooth. Transfer the pears to serving plates and serve warm with the sauce and spoonfuls of crème fraîche.