Pear clafoutis with salted caramel sauce

Ingredients

• 50 g (½ cup) almond meal
• 75 g (½ cup) plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 100 g caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 250 ml (1 cup) whole milk
• 250 ml (1 cup) thickened cream
• 2 vanilla beans, halved lengthways, seeds scraped, beans reserved
• icing sugar, to serve

Poached pears

• 4 pears
• 500 g caster sugar

Salted caramel

• 100 g caster sugar
• 60 ml (¼ cup) thickened cream
• 40 g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• pinch of sea salt

Instructions

1. For the batter, place all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for the poached pears, peel the pears, leaving the stalks on, then place in a saucepan so they fit snugly. Add the sugar, 1½ litres water and the reserved vanilla beans from the batter. Cover with baking paper and bring to the boil, then immediately reduce the heat to low and cook for about 30 minutes or until just tender.
3. Preheat a fan forced oven to 200˚C.
4. For the salted caramel sauce, place the sugar in a saucepan over medium high heat. Cook, tilting the pan occasionally until the sugar has dissolved and is caramel in colour. Carefully add the cream and swirl the pan until emulsified. Stir in the butter until melted and well combined, then add a pinch of sea salt, remove from the heat and set aside.
5. Cut the pears into 2 cm - 3 cm pieces and arrange in the bottom of a shallow buttered dish. Pour the clafoutis batter over the top and bake for 16 - 17 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown.
6. To serve, dust with icing sugar and drizzle with caramel sauce.

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