November 05, 2004
The Very Best Tarte Tatin Recipe
Speaking of Gourmet Magazine, they did a fabulous edition in March 2001 focused on the "insider secrets" to Paris. They asked local, long time residents to divulge their favourite places, shops, restaurants, and things to do. There were articles on up-coming neighbourhoods and great pieces on Picasso's Paris, recreations of dinner's past. Since I was on my way to Paris, it was such a rich compendium of timely information that I had no choice but to pinch it from United's SFO lounge just minutes before the boarding call sounded. No moral quandaries there.
It turned out that this particular edition would prove specially significant to me. You see, for my 30th birthday, which was in March of that year, Toby took me on a surprise trip to Paris. (Yes, I know that he has let the entire male side down for setting such a dangerous precedent. Too bad.) But what made the trip even better was that he managed to convince about eight of our friends from Canada, the US and Europe to join the celebration! It was truly magical. In fact, so enraptured we were with the city, we started window-shopping for real estate and said out-loud to the universe that we'd love to live in Paris one day. Well, as fortune would have it, the universe worked much faster than we expected: just six months later, serendipity struck, and we had moved lock, stock and barrel to the City of Light, Love and of course Food!
(Not our picture -- I'd never use doilies to plate anything -- but some random googled item that looked about right. Thanks for that.)
This magazine of course came with us in the move, and served my explorations and orientation to Parisian delights well. It then languished for a bit in my magazine pile until Toby's wonderful aunt Gill rediscovered it while visiting us. In particular, she found this fantastic recipe for Tarte Tatin, a classic French apple dish, which is hard to do well. Even in restaurants here it's often this sickly, insipid mush and not worth the calories.
However, the accompanying article demystified all of this, explaining the "dos" and "don't's" of the process. So armed with this knowledge, Gill and I tried our hand at this one night. Needless to say, it turned out remarkably well. After successfully inverting the creation from our cast-iron pan -- always a moment of truth -- we were delighted to find the apples perfectly caramelized and not too mushy, and the pastry flaky. I have since replicated this several times, both at home and on the road in strange kitchens. Gill has reported one semi-success, mainly because she didn't cook the apples on the stove top long enough to get the caramelization going (a key trick!) We both subsitute normal, home-made tarte pastry for the puff pastry. I have also used more apples than what they call for, sometimes as many as ten, which means it's good to have a voluntary kitchen slave around to do the dirty work (e.g. peeling the many apples) for you!
So, if you are pining for one of the best apple desserts around, try this recipe and you'll get good results!
TARTE TATIN (from Gourmet March 2001)
Serves 8
Active time: 30 min
Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr
Ingredients
1 frozen puff pastry sheet (from a 17 1/4-oz package), thawed
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
7 to 9 Gala apples (3 to 4 lb), peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
Special equipment: a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Roll pastry sheet into a 101/2-inch square on a floured work surface with a floured rolling pin. Brush off excess flour and cut out a 10-inch round with a sharp knife, using a plate as a guide. Transfer round to a baking sheet and chill.
Roll pastry sheet into a 101/2-inch square on a floured work surface with a floured rolling pin. Brush off excess flour and cut out a 10-inch round with a sharp knife, using a plate as a guide. Transfer round to a baking sheet and chill.
Spread butter thickly on bottom and side of skillet and pour sugar evenly over bottom. Arrange as many apples as will fit vertically on sugar, packing them tightly in concentric circles . Apples will stick up above rim of skillet.
Cook apples over moderately high heat, undisturbed, until juices are deep golden and bubbling, 18 to 25 minutes. (Don't worry if juices color unevenly.)
Put skillet in middle of oven over a piece of foil to catch any drips. Bake 20 minutes (apples will settle slightly), then remove from oven and lay pastry round over apples.
Bake tart until pastry is browned, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer skillet to a rack and cool at least 10 minutes.
Just before serving, invert a platter with lip over skillet and, using potholders to hold skillet and plate tightly together, invert tart onto platter. Replace any apples that stick to skillet. (Don't worry if there are black spots; they won't affect the flavor of the tart.) Brush any excess caramel from skillet over apples. Serve immediately.
Cooks' note: Tart can cool in skillet up to 30 minutes. It can also stand, uncovered, up to 5 hours, then be heated over moderately low heat 1 to 2 minutes to loosen caramel. Shake skillet gently to loosen tart before inverting.
- Nicole
Posted by nicole at November 5, 2004 05:17 PM