Tarte tatin
Ingredients
• plain flour, for dusting
• 500g puff pastry
• 5 small eating apples
(approximately
800g),
a mixture of sweet and
acidic varieties
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 100ml Calvados
•
1 vanilla pod, halved
lengthways, seeds
scraped out
• 50g butter, cubed
Method
Preheat your oven to 190˚C/375˚F/gas 5. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with
flour and roll out your puff pastry until it’s just over 0.5cm thick. This will be
enough to cover the ovenproof frying pan you’ll be cooking the tarte Tatin in, leaving
about 5cm extra around the edge. Put the pastry to one side for now. Peel your apples,
then halve them horizontally and use a teaspoon to get rid of the seeds and core.
Put
the ovenproof pan on a medium heat and add the sugar, Calvados, vanilla seeds and
pod. Let the sugar dissolve and cook until the mixture forms a light caramel. Just
please remember never ever to touch or taste hot caramel, as it can burn really badly.
Once
the caramel looks and smells delicious – it should be a lovely chestnut brown – add
your halved apples. Carefully stir everything in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes
or until the apples start to soften and you get a toffee apple vibe happening. Add
the cubed butter, then lay the pastry over the top. Quickly and carefully tuck the
pastry down right into the edges – it’s best to use a wooden spoon so you don’t touch
the caramel.
Bake the tarte Tatin for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden, with
crispy caramelly pieces bubbling up from under the edges. Take it out of the oven.
To make it look like a tarte Tatin you need to turn it out, which isn't hard – but
you do need to be careful with that hot caramel. So get a serving plate or board
larger than your pan and put an oven glove on to protect the arm holding the board.
Put the board or plate on top of the pan, then quickly, carefully and confidently
turn it out (remember you can go to www.jamieoliver.com/how-
with a spoonful of crème fraîche or ice cream.
Recipe 2
Not only is this dessert delicious, it was invented quite near where I was staying
by the Tatin sisters. The story goes that one of them was making an apple tart but,
for whatever reason, made a mistake and left it too long in the oven. However, she
thought she could salvage it, so she ended up turning it upside down and her guests
went mad for it. I wish all my cooking mistakes had such happy results. If you want
to see a video of this being made, go towww.jamieoliver.com/how-
Hopefully, this recipe will
give you the basics so that you’ll be able to stretch it by using pears, quinces,
peaches, apricots or a mixture… I’m sure the sisters would love the fact that people
were bending this recipe to make it their own. Light golden puff pastry, soft juicy
fruit and crisp caramel is a great combination! You could serve this with a spoonful
of crème fraîche or whipped cream, but personally I love the contrast between the
warm tart and cold ice cream, especially the prune and Armagnac ice cream on the
next page!
Recipe serves 6
Ingredients
3 or 4 good tart apples
100g (3.5oz) caster sugar, plus 2-
75g (2.5oz) salted butter
1 sheet ready-
A dash of Calvados or Pommeau (apple brandy)
200ml (7fl oz) crème fraiche
Preparation method
If you are cooking the tarte in one go, preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.
Peel, core and quarter the apples.
In a cast-
Swirl the pan about to help spread the caramelisation throughout the syrup (do not
stir with a spoon or it will crystallise). When it has reached a golden brown colour
(1-
Add the quartered apples and cook them gently for 3-
Taking care not to burn your fingers, arrange the apple quarters in a spiral or concentric circles. If you will be cooking the tarte in a cake tin, arrange the apples in it and pour the caramel from the pan over them.
If you are preparing the tarte for cooking later, let the apples cool down before putting the pastry on top. Leave the tarte in a cool place (the fridge is too cold) until you are ready to cook it. If cooking the tarte in one go, place the puff pastry on the apples and tuck it around them like a blanket on a bed.
Put the pan or tin in the oven and cook for about 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden. Take the tarte out of the oven and let it stand for about 5 minutes before turning it out onto a deep plate to catch all the caramel and cooking juices.
Mix the 2-
Tips and techniques
Trish likes to use apples that soak up the flavour of the caramel. She uses the variety Boskoop, when she is in France, but experimented here in England with Braeburn and Bramleys. Coxes are also good.
You can make caramel with or without water. Either way it can easily burn so make sure you watch it all the time. The caramel is ready when it turns a nice golden mahogany colour. Best not to stir it, just swirl it around in the pan..
Take the pan off the heat when you add the butter. The caramel will foam and fizz up. Be very careful handling the syrup, it is extremely hot.
You can leave the apples in the caramel and add the pastry later.
Use a good non-