Food Lust People Love: tarte Tatin

Friday, May 29, 2015

Almond Plum Tarte Tatin #FridayPieDay

This plum tart, baked upside down with caramelized sugar and slivered almonds then flipped, is perfect summer fare, for when stoned fruit is in season. Any fruit can be used in a tarte Tatin, although apples are traditional. Try it with apricots or peaches as well as plums.

A couple of months ago my friend Heather from girlichef decided she was going to designate the last Friday of the month as Friday Pie Day and I vowed to join her. Then the last Friday in March came and went and I completely forgot. And I did have something to share in April (You are looking at it!) but other real life commitments got in the way. Despite being on the road, on my way to our younger daughter’s graduation from Rhode Island School of Design today, I just had to participate this month. Because, as Heather says, life needs more pie!

Ingredients
1 cup or 200g sugar
2 tablespoons water
8 ripe plums (about 1 lb 6.5 oz or 640g)
Good pinch salt
1/4 cup or 55g unsalted butter
8.5 oz or 240g block puff pastry
1/4 cup or 20g slivered almonds plus a little extra for sprinkling after, if desired.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Halve the plums and remove the stones.

Put the plums in a bowl and sprinkle them with the remaining sugar and salt, mix, and leave to sit while you get on with caramelizing the sugar.

A note about the pan: I use one that goes from stovetop to oven so I can caramelize the sugar, add the butter and then add the fruit and pastry all in one. If you do not have such a pan, simply pour the caramelized sugar into a baking pan and continue as per the instructions.

In a pan, simmer half the sugar with a couple of tablespoons of water until a golden caramel has formed.

Stir in the butter.

(Here’s where you pour the sauce into a tart pan, preferably non-stick, if your stovetop pan won’t go safely into a hot oven.)

Sprinkle the almonds on the caramelized sugar.

Put the plums on top, round side down, and spread them out to cover the base of the pan.

Roll out the pastry until it is just slightly larger than your pan.

Cover the plums with the pastry, pushing it right into the sides of the pan. Cut two or three slits in the top to let the steam out. I was just messing around so I stuck a few scraps on top of the pastry but since we are turning this over to serve, they won’t even show.

Place the tart in the oven for around 25 to 35 minutes until pastry is puffed and golden brown and the syrup is bubbling up.

When the tart is baked, allow it too cool for about 10 minutes.

Put a large serving plate with sides on top of the pan and turn the tart upside down onto it. The deliciously sticky plummy syrup will come out over the pastry so a plate with sides is essential. Sprinkle on some more slivered almonds, if desired.

Serve nice slices with ice cream, thick pouring cream or a dollop of crème fraîche.

Enjoy!

FridayPieDay is the brilliant invention of Heather from girlichef.

I am pleased to start joining her on the last Friday of each month for pie and crust recipes, techniques, tools of the trade, and other inspiration.

For more information and recipes, please check out her #FRIDAYPIEDAY page!

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Leek and Zucchini Tarte Tatin

Created in the late 19th century by the sisters Tatin as a special apple dessert in their hotel restaurant, Tarte Tatin gained first French then worldwide popularity when famous 20th-century epicure Curnonsky published the recipe in his 1926-volume “La France Gastronomique.” The original ingredients were simple: sugar, apples and butter for the inside, flour, butter and water for the dough. This savory version is not much more complicated and the fresh vegetables shine.

I’ve spoken here before about the two years we lived in Balikpapan, Indonesia and the limited access we had to a variety of fresh vegetables. Aside from the local greens, I really only remember potatoes and green beans and carrots on offer. I had so taken for granted the well-stocked grocery stores of my youth but those two years gave me an appreciation for what I was missing. And then, because there is a God, we moved to Paris for three years of abundance and gorgeous markets with fresh seasonal produce of every variety. I bought Roger Vergé’s Vegetables and devoured both the sweet stories of his childhood in his father’s garden and mother’s kitchen and the simple recipes that featured all the goodness and light of the vegetables available to me. In short, I fell in love. I look back upon those years as an awakening to the potential of fresh vegetables to nourish with big flavor and beauty. Even though we have lived in several different countries since then with varying degrees of produce available, I’ve always tried to follow Chef Vergé’s instructions to buy the shiny eggplant, the greens that are crisp and vibrant, the firm carrot, the unblemished tomato and, if at all possible, the newly podded pea.

The week’s Sunday Supper theme is Meatless Meals but privately, in my own head, I’ve been calling it Vegetables on Center Stage. I’ve adapted this recipe from one of my new favorite cookbooks, another French one that focuses on vegetables in all their glory, The French Market Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes from My Parisian Kitchen by Clotilde Dusoulier. Many thanks to my friend Tammi of Momma’s Meals for hosting this great event, which could not have come at a better time for me. I’ll be visiting my two vegetarian daughters in the United States soon so I know I’ll be pinning a bunch of these recipes to try while I’m there.

Ingredients

10 oz or 285g leeks

If they are more or less the same circumference, that would be good.

10 oz or 285g small zucchini
3 small purple onions (not quite 4 1/2 oz or 125g total weight)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
9 small cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
Sea salt flakes
Black pepper
1 circle of short crust pie pastry (I used this recipe here.)

To serve: 3/4-1 oz or 25-30g Parmesan, freshly grated

Method
Trim the hard green ends and the roots off of the leeks and then cut them into lengths of about one inch or two centimeters long.

Rinse them thoroughly in running water to get rid of any dirt that might be inside, but make sure to keep the pieces whole. Drain the water and set them on a towel to dry.

Add a good drizzle of olive oil to a stovetop pan, preferably one that is also ovenproof, and place the leeks in the oil, running them around a little to make sure the whole bottom of the pan is oiled.

Rinse and trim the ends off of your zucchini. Cut them into lengths the same as the leeks.

Place them in the pan in and amongst the leeks.

Peel your purple onions and cut them into quarters, making sure to leave a bit of the core at the bottom of each piece. Place them in your pan, core side down, amongst the leeks and zucchini.

Put the pan on a medium fire and cook until the bottoms of the vegetables are beginning to brown. Check a piece of zucchini. It's less likely to fall apart.

Add in a good splash of water and pop a lid on the pan.

Allow the vegetables to steam for a few minutes. When you can poke a fork in the zucchini but still feel some resistance, take the lid off and let the moisture evaporate. Cook for a few more minutes or until the bottoms of the vegetables are nicely caramelized.

Carefully turn them over, trying to keep them upright in their places. I used a combination of a small spoon and tongs to make the turn. If your pan or its handle is not ovenproof, you can transfer the vegetables to a baking pan now. Make sure to oil the new pan and keep the vegetables brown side up.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Add your cherry tomatoes to the pan, placing them around the leeks and zucchini as evenly as you can manage. Sprinkle the vegetables with a little salt and pepper. Remember that you are going to finish this with some grated Parmesan so that will add saltiness as well.

Pull the leaves off of the thyme sprigs and scatter them on top the vegetables.

Top the whole thing with your circle of pastry dough, tucking the sides in down around the vegetables.

Using a sharp knife, cut slits in the dough to allow the steam to escape. This will ensure that your crust comes out of the oven crunchy instead of soggy.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the tart crust is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the crust to loosen it.

Place your serving plate on top of your pan and, using oven mitts, quickly turn the pan over. Replace any pieces of vegetable that stuck to the pan.

Sprinkle liberally with freshly grated Parmesan and serve. I must confess that I didn’t use all the cheese before I took photos because that would have covered up the lovely vegetables. You go ahead and put it all on, unless you are taking pictures.