The story behind the 'Tarte Tatin'
Tarte Tatin, the famous French upside down apple tart, has an origin story that begins with the sisters Stephanie and Caroline Tatin who ran a guesthouse in central France.
Caroline, the cook, came late and flustered into the kitchen having forgotten to make her famous apple pie. Quickly throwing sugar, butter and cored apples into a pan she went to prepare another dish. Soon she was overwhelmed by a delicious smell of burned sugar and apples that filled her kitchen. In an inspired short cut she decided to put the pastry on top of the caramelised apples and bake it until golden. She then flipped the 'tarte' and served it to delighted customers. It was such a success she never went back to her original recipe.
In my garden at the moment I have an old tree laden with ' Boskop ' apples , a variety perfect for apple tarts. These apples were my inspiration to make Caroline's famous 'Tarte Tatin '.
- Ingredients
- 3-4 Boskop apples or Granny Smith
- 200 gr caster sugar plus 2 tablespoons for pastry
- 180 gr unsalted butter
- 250 gr unbleached flour
- 1 organic egg
- 50 ml cold water
- pinch of salt
- grated skin of 1 organic lemon
my Boskop apples on the tree
Line a 22 cm pie dish with baking paper
pre heat the oven to 180˚
make the pastry with the flour, 100 gr of the butter, egg, water, lemon rind, salt, 2 tablespoons of sugar,
put the ingredients into your magi mix and puls a few times
wrap the pastry in some oven paper and refrigerate until needed
peel and slice the apples into thick slices
in a pan caramelise 150 gr of the sugar with 50 gr of the butter
pour the caramelised sugar into the pie dish
arrange the sliced apples around the dish
sprinkle the rest of the sugar onto the apples
arrange the rest of the butter over the apples and roll out the pastry
cover the apples with the pastry, pushing down the sides with a fork and pricking it a few time
bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes
let the 'Tarte Tatin' cool a little before turning it upside down on a serving plate
decorate if you like and serve with pure, thick cream
