Sunday, September 11, 2011

tarte tatin (revised).


funny, 
when i was in france i didn't eat any tarte tatin.
i just realized, 
i haven't eaten it from anybody else before.

i think i discovered this tarte on the internet and i was fascinated by the simplicity of the ingredients.

the first time i followed a recipe,
the times after that i tried to give it my own little twinges, 
to perfect it.
i sliced the apples and i used a butter pâte brisée.
i liked the crunchiness of the dough, but it got soggy after one day.
and the individual apple slices, soaked up the sugar nicely, but in my opinion the gave off too much of their liquid.

now to my recent tarte tatin.
puff pastry dough - great.
the liquid soaked into it somewhat, but it gave it a great texture, sort of chewy, and crisp at the bottom.
the apples - a little firm, but buttery sweet.
next time i want to try the apple slices again though, i think it looks more elegant with the circular pattern of them.

this is the kind of tarte you can impress everyone with.
it doesn't look like much, but it has such a unique and great taste.
my bf and i had eaten it up in one day!
(thank god, it was only a "small" one, 18 cm in diameter).


tarte tatin

i used a cast-iron pan, 18 cm in diameter

150g sugar
3 apples
2 tbsp lemon juice
50g butter
large pinch of fleur du sel
250g puff pastry

preheat the oven to 250 degrees celcius.
peel apples, cut in half and remove core. 
sprinkle with lemon juice.
in cast-iron pan, melt 100g of the sugar and then stir until caramelized and amber colored.
place apple halves, rounded side down, into the sugar.
bake in oven for 8-10 minutes.
remove from oven, sprinkle cut butter on the apples. sprinkle the rest of sugar and the fleur du sel on them as well.
for the puff pastry, i used a bought one, which was not frozen.
cut the puff pastry into stripes and sprinkle onto the apples, covering everything.
turn down oven to 220 degrees.
bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
place on wire rack and wait five minutes to cool.
pour our the excess juice into the kitchen drain.
with help of oven gloves and a platter, flip the tarte around and remove the pan.
enjoy hot or cold, plain or with vanilla ice cream.