Tarte Tatin

[underused]

There may be no better time to try a new recipe than when you have a friend nearby and nowhere to go. Yesterday, in the midst of a snowpocalypse, my mother-in-law (who does not listen to weather reports) came for a visit and we decided to try our hand at Tarte Tatin.

This French pastry was named after two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin, who ran a hotel south of Paris in the 1880s. It involves caramelising apples on the stovetop, then covering your pan with pastry before baking it in the oven. Once finished, the whole thing is turned onto a plate to reveal a sticky, golden apple tart.

As we discovered, it was fussy but not hard to make (it's really more time than skill)--and oh boy, was it ever worth the effort.

We used a combination of two recipes: this one for the pastry and baking times; this one for the apple prep. I'm sure both work fine as they are. We used Granny Smith apples because they were tart and didn't fall apart in the heat. Also, they were cheap. There are lots of varieties that will hold up; choose what you like.

To make this pastry, you'll need to go from stove top to oven, so choose your pan accordingly. Cast iron is great if you have it. It's helpful if the pan isn't too shallow, as your caramel will bubble while baking. And I probably don't need to say this, but hot, liquid sugar will burn the crap out of you if you touch it, so be careful please.

Now, let's get to it.

INGREDIENTS

have ready: an oven-proof skillet/pan, about 9"

for the pastry
1 c all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 pinch salt
1/2 c butter
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp water

for the topping
5 c peeled apples, quartered
1/3 c butter
1 c sugar

DIRECTIONS

Make your pastry first.
In a medium bowl, mix your flour, sugar, and salt. (If you're using salted butter, you can skip the latter.)
Cut in your butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until it's the texture of coarse cornmeal with a few larger lumps here and there.

Make a well in the centre and drop in your egg yolk. Then, using a tbsp, distribute your water around the edges. Using your spoon, give everything a quick stir, then scrape off whatever's stuck to the spoon and get in there with your hands. Knead quickly and forcefully; it should take less than a minute to create a somewhat flakey, lumpy, mostly-cohesive ball of dough.

Drop your dough onto a piece of lightly floured wax paper and roll to roughly the size of the top of your pan. It will be a bit crumbly at first and that's ok. Lift the wax paper to corral and fold in any cracking or crumbling edges. It's good if your dough has some uneven spots where you can see a bit of butter.

When you're finished, cover with another piece of wax paper and put it in the fridge to rest/chill while you prepare your apples.

Now let's get to the apples.

Set your stove to a medium heat. (If you're using cast iron, you can start a little higher, but remember to turn it down as the iron heats up so you don't burn your sugar.)

In your pan, add your sugar and butter and melt together, stirring constantly.

When the sugar and butter are bubbling, add your apples. Just dump 'em in. If you didn't use salted butter, you can add a pinch of salt.

According to the second recipe linked above, do this: "Cook the apples, stirring every few minutes, until the sauce darkens to a deep amber caramel color. This should take 12 to 15 minutes. Be sure to turn the apples as you stir them so they are coated with the caramel sauce. A good indication of when the caramel sauce is done is if a drip holds its shape on a cool plate."

Remove the apples from the heat. Now turn them so the rounded edge of the apples are against the bottom of the pan. There should be a solid layer of apples covering your pan. If you have too many, take out the extra (remember what I said about burning sugar); if you have too few, you'll know better next time. ☺

Now, while your apples cool just a bit, PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 425 F.

When the oven is hot, take your pastry out of the fridge, peel off the paper and lay it on top of your apples. It should fit down into the pan, covering the apples right to the edges. If there's extra you can either tuck it into the pan or trim it off. Prick the pastry with a fork and pop the whole thing into the oven.

Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 375 F and bake for another 15-20 until the pastry is light golden. Ours looked like this:


Let the tart cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.

When you're ready to transfer your tart to a plate, run a knife all around the edges of the pan to loosen any pastry or apples that might be stuck there.

Now place your plate over the pan. Make sure it covers all the edges.

Holding both the pan and plate together tightly with both hands (you may need oven mitts if you're using cast iron) FLIP the pan. (At this point I found it easiest to put the whole contraption down for a second so I could pick it up again with the plate on the bottom.)

Now give everything a little shake and lift the pan off the plate. VOILA!

If any of the apples got turned around or moved, you can fix it now while the syrup is hot. This is a very forgiving dish that way.

Cool for at least 1/2 an hour at room temperature before serving. You can serve with whipped cream or ice cream or just plain. Try not to eat it all at once. ☺

Comments

[mandralyne]

That looks really good.

[underused]

☺ Thank you! It definitely tasted amazing--although it was sort of sugar bomb.