Spiced tamarillos and mascarpone

Method

• Preheat oven to 120C. Cut a small cross at the end of each tamarillo and blanch until the skin lifts, then douse with cold water and remove skin, leaving the stems attached.
• Put your remaining ingredients into a heavy-based saucepan and boil for ten minutes until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is syrupy.
• Place tamarillos into a shallow dish and add syrup to cover the fruit. Cover with a sheet of baking paper and bake for 15 minutes until the fruit is just tender.
• Allow to cool, then remove fruit and reduce the syrup by half. Allow syrup to cool completely and then pour over tamarillos and leave in the fridge for at least 24 hours before serving.  They will keep for a couple of months in the fridge if stored in a sterilised jar with plenty of liquid to cover.
• Serve with mascarpone sweetened with a tablespoon of icing sugar and seeds of one vanilla pod.
• Serves 4-8 (1 or 2 tamarillos per person)