Priceless Paintings from W7

What can be better than a fresh hot Tarte Tatin to follow a meal of Chourcoute de Mer? I can’t think of anything, and a recent panel of judges (assembled around my dining table) seemed to agree.

You’ll find Tarte Tatin recipes anywhere. This one works for me – adopted from the much loved Larousse Gastronomique, and adjusted to my needs.

Tarte Tatin is a caramelized apple cake, baked upside-down. It’s pretty simple to make, especially if you cut corners and use ready-made deep-frozen shortcrust pastry for the base. I am sure more restaurants do the same.

Key to making Tarte Tatin is your baking dish. It needs to go over fire on fairly high heat, and it needs to go into the oven. There is no way to transfer the caramel from a frying pan into a baking dish; you’d spoil it. I use a stainless steel 280mm frying pan, and unscrew the handle just before it goes into the oven.

Once you’ve found a suitable pan (one with a double-life as a baking dish), then you’re good to go:

Buy frozen shortcrust pastry, the kind that is already rolled-out to fit a 280mm dish. Defrost one sheet, keep the other for another day.

Slowly melt 180g butter. When melted, mix with 180g caster sugar and seeds from one vanilla pod. Mix well, allowing most of the sugar to dissolve and the vanilla to distribute.

Peel 5 or 6 medium sized apples and remove the cores. I usually use Braeburn. Cut into eights.

Distribute the butter and sugar mix evenly across the bottom of the pan. There’s no need to cover the walls. Lay out the apple slices nicely into that mix. Make an effort to lay them nicely, but don’t be too disappointed if things shift about a bit in what comes next:

Put the pan over fairly high heat, maybe 8/10. Don’t stir, don’t shake, just keep an eye on it and adjust the heat as necessary. You want the butter to boil fairly violently, without splashing out of your pan. Do so until the butter and sugar mix makes a dark golden caramel.

Remove pan from fire and let cool down completely. (This is the state shown in today’s photo.)Do something else for two hours, then cover the apples with the shortcrust pastry. Tuck in the edges. Put aside.

Return to the tarte 30 minutes before you want to serve it. Pop into the oven (which you have pre-heated to 190C) for 30..35 minutes, top and bottom heat. Begin watching it after 20 minutes in case it darkens too quickly.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for five minutes. Just allow the temperature to drop a little, without allowing the caramel to set. Now flip it onto a serving tray, and serve immediately. Goes extremely well with a scoop of nice vanilla ice cream.

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