THE ROAD TO SUGO IS PEPPERED WITH INTERNATIONAL CREDENTIALS. IAN HAS WORKED WITH ‘MARCO’ [PIERRE WHITE] AND ‘

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE & MANDARIN BAKED CHEESECAKE WITH PEDRO XO PRUNES SERVES 8-10 / DAY 1 PREPARATION 20 MINUTES PLUS 2 HOURS STEEPING / COOKING 2½-3 HOURS DAY 2 PREPARATION 30 MINUTES PLUS 3-7 HOURS CHILLING / COOKING 2 HOURS

You need to begin this a day ahead to make the mandarin glaze and allow the prunes time to steep.

MANDARIN GLAZE

700g mandarins, unpeeled 300g sugar lemon juice, to taste 5g gelatine

PEDRO XO PRUNES

1 Earl Grey tea bag 250g prunes (pith removed) 150g sugar 100ml sherry

CHEESECAKE

500g Jerusalem artichokes 110g sugar

1 x 200g packet Hobnob biscuits 75g butter, melted

120g white chocolate

150g cream cheese (we use Philadelphia) 470g mascarpone

15g flour

4 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks

To make the mandarin glaze, put the whole mandarins into a pan, fill with cold water, bring to the boil then drain. Repeat this twice more. Put 700ml water, sugar and mandarins in a pan. Let the mandarins cook for 2-3 hours over a low-medium heat, keeping them below simmering point. Top the water up as needed if it gets low. You want the mandarins to be shiny and very soft.

Once cooked, drain the mandarins from the syrup (reserving the syrup) and blend the whole fruit until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and weigh out 500g of purée (any that’s left makes a sweet purée similar to marmalade – amazing on toast). Taste and adjust the flavour with some lemon juice, the cooking syrup and maybe a little salt. Bloom the gelatine in some cold water for 5 minutes, then add to the mandarin purée. Set aside in the fridge.

For the Pedro XO prunes, put the tea bag in 200ml boiling water, add the prunes and steep for 1 hour. Drain, reserving the tea. Boil the sugar and sherry in a saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the prunes, cover and leave to sit for 1 hour. Remove the prunes, then reduce the sherry syrup by half. Season to taste with the reserved tea. Add the prunes back to the syrup and store in the fridge.

To make the cheesecake, heat the oven to 170℃ and roast the artichokes with a little salt for 30-40 minutes until soft and golden. Blend to a fine purée. Weigh out 250g of purée (save any leftover purée for a risotto or add vegetable stock and cream to make a soup), mix in the sugar and keep to one side.

Lower the oven temperature to 100℃. Line the bottom and sides of a 21cm-square cake tin with baking paper.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor and mix with the melted butter until it comes together. Place into the cake tin and press down to make it compact, then chill.

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over simmering water and keep warm. Put the cream cheese, mascarpone, flour, whole eggs and yolks into a food processor and blend for 2-3 minutes or until smooth. Mix in the artichoke purée and chocolate and blend well. Pour the mix into the tin and bake for 90 minutes. Chill in the fridge in the tin for 2 hours or 1 hour in the freezer.

Gently melt the mandarin purée and pour over the set cheesecake. Return it to the fridge for at least 5 hours or the freezer for 2-3 hours.

To serve, carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin. Dip a knife into boiling water, wipe the blade dry and cut the cheesecake into portions. Serve with Pedro XO prunes alongside.