When I was growing up in Cashel, our neighbours had a pear tree, some branches of which overhung our back wall.

As children we’d help ourselves to the odd pear, never waiting long enough for them to ripen. Not surprisingly, we didn’t much like the fruit as they were often hard, dry and difficult to digest. Today my home also has overhanging Conference pear branches – from the back garden of our lovely neighbour Lil.

She provides us with bags of pears each year and we use them at home for sorbet or to prepare pear puree. We also use them in the restaurant for this dish. Like a lot of my recipes, you can use all or some of the elements.

Poached Burgundy pear with pear parfait and sorbet

500g pear parfait
200g pear sorbet
2 litres Burgundy pear syrup
8 slices of dried pears

Ingredients: pears in pear syrup
13 Conference pears
550ml port
550ml red Burgundy wine
1 litre stock syrup
250ml fresh pear juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 fresh vanilla pod
1 star anise
1 lemon rind
1 orange rind
3 cloves

Method
1.Mix all ingredients together in a pot and bring to the boil.

2.Wash and peel the pears, remove the core and place them into the pear juice and cover. Cook over a low heat for approx 15 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from the heat and place in a basin of cold water to cool it down quickly.

3. Remove the pears from the liquid and place into a clean container. Pour the liquid on top and rest in the refrigerator for 36 hours.

Ingredients – Italian meringue
2 free-range egg whites
50g icing sugar
50g granulated sugar
15ml water

Method
You will need this Italian meringue for the pear parfait.

1.Place egg whites and a third of icing sugar in a mixing bowl and mix until stiff. Add remainder of icing sugar and mix for a further two minutes.

2.Place 15ml water and 50g granulated sugar in a pot and bring to the boil without stirring, until the syrup registers 112c on a sugar thermometer. Remove and place the pot into cold water for a few seconds until it reaches 110c.

3.Pour the mixture slowly into the egg whites and mix for a further five minutes.

Ingredients: pear parfait
500ml pear puree
100g Italian meringue
900ml whipped double cream
5 leaves gelatine
10ml Poire William Liqueur
2 pears (taken from burgundy liquid and finely chopped)

Method: parfait
1.Dissolve the gelatine in cold water. When soft, remove the gelatine and squeeze off the excess water. Place in a pot and add 20ml of the pear puree (wash and peel the pears and remove the cores. Cut into small pieces and place in a pot. Add the juice of one lemon to pears and puree in a blender until smooth).Place over a low heat to dissolve gelatine completely. Remove and add to the rest of the pear puree through a fine sieve.

2.Whip the cream and pour in the Italian meringue. Fold in the remainder of the puree and add the chopped pears. Add the Poire William Liqueur.

3. Pour the mixture into a lined mould (eg bread tin lined with cling film). Cover and place in the freezer overnight.

Ingredients – pear sorbet
1 litre pear puree (36 pears 1 lemon)
210g caster sugar
1 teaspoon glucose
430ml water

Method
1.Place the sugar, glucose, water and puree into a pot and cook until it reaches 72c on a sugar thermometer. Remove and return to the blender for 3-4 minutes until smooth. Remove and pass through a fine sieve.

2.Place the pot into a basin of cold water to cool down. Prepare the sorbet machine by washing with hot water and allowing to cool. Pour half the mixture into the machine and turn until it binds together. Remove and place into a container, cover and place in freezer. Pour rest of mixture into sorbet machine and turn until it binds together. Remove and add to container and freeze.

To serve
Slice the parfait into thin slices and place in the centre of a wide soup plate. Using a warmed dessert spoon, spoon an oval shape of sorbet on top of the parfait. Cut the poached pears in half and slice thinly and fan around the sorbet.

Place some dried pear slices, which can be bought in the supermarket, beside the sorbet and pour a little pear juice around the bowl.

Kevin Thornton is a Michelin-starred chef and owner of Thornton’s Restaurant on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin.