Tarte Tatin

I’ve wanted to make a tarte tatin for a while, but I’d never had a suitable dish to make it in, however I recently found one online. it’s a metal, nonstick pan with a thick bottom and a rim to be able to hold onto when turning it out. With my new tin ready I thought I’d give it a go and try it out on some friends for Christmas. Here’s how to make it.

I bought 6 large, juicy, eating apples from the market. Any apples, like golden delicious, pink lady or gala are all suitable, even a tart Granny Smith can work.

Peel and core them, and chop into quarters. Leave in some water with a splash of lemon juice added.

Melt 125g butter and 125g of sugar in the pan, add some vanilla (essence or from a pod). Once it’s all melted carefully add in the apples and cook covered for about 20 minutes. I put some tin foil over them. They need to be just tender, and to keep them succulent keep basting them in the syrupy liquid.

Then take the apples out, and simmer the liquid to reduce it to a thick syrup. Once done remove from the heat, and carefully place the apples back into the pan, coating them once again in the syrup. I did round side up.

You then need to lay the ready rolled flaky pastry over the top and tuck the edges in. It is then baked for about 30 minutes at 180°c

Remove from the oven, and leave for about 5 minutes, but not much longer, as the syrup will start to firm up.

You now need to very carefully tip it out by placing a plate over it, and tipping it upside down. Careful as the syrup is hot.

Serve with some cold creme fraiche, it’s absolutely delicious. I will definitely be cooking this for our guests table d’hôte next year.