THE QUERCY LOCAL • 31
Method Preheat the oven to 180°C. In the bowl of your food processor, mix the flour, salt, butter and margarine until the mixture resembles oatmeal. Then add the egg and the water, and mix again until the dough comes together. On a sheet of parchment paper roll out the pastry to a circle that is slightly larger than the pan you’ll be using. Put the pastry in the fridge while you get on with the rest of the recipe. Cut the peeled and cored apples in half, add the vanilla and cinnamon, and toss well to mix. Put your tarte tatin pan on the stove and slowly melt the butter. Once the butter is almost fully melted, add the sugar and stir well for about a minute or two. Now increase the heat to about medium and leave the caramel until it starts to turn golden and smell wonderful. This will take about 10 minutes. Whatever you do, do not stir! Simply swirl the caramel every now and then. Add the apples (cut side down) and then gently turn them around (cut side up) so they are completely coated with the caramel. Turn down the heat a bit, and leave the apples to cook for about five minutes. In the meantime, take your pastry out of the fridge. Once the apples are cooked, take the pan off the heat, and carefully cover the apples with the pastry making sure to tuck in the sides and fold over any remaining pastry. Prick the pastry a few times with a fork. Bake the tarte tatin for about 45-50 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack for at least ten minutes before turning it out on to a plate. To serve, place a plate on top of the pan, put on some oven gloves, and flip the whole thing over so that the tarte tatin ends up on your plate. Enjoy as is, with some crème fraîche or with some vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.
Paola Westbeek is a food, wine and travel writer with a good dose of joie de vivre. She is passionate about French cooking, old-fashioned chansons, Rembrandt and life. Paola is available for all kinds of recipe development and culinary advice. For more information visit www.ladoucevie.eu or contact Paola at pwestbeek@gmail.com.
Published March, May, July, September and November each year
The Quercy Local • November-February 2015