Spouse so enjoys the currency of a dessert crafted by his own apt hands, trumping the meals we enjoy with family and friends. Some may call it overly competitive, I call it his perfectionist streak and a penchant to thrill. Most recently his infamously rich and luxurious renditions of Zabaglione have given way to perfecting the Tarte Tatin.

Tarte Tatin is essentially an upside - down apple pie. It was immortalized by Curnonsky (Prince of Gastronomes) who named it Tarte des Demoiselles Tatin, and according to Larousse Gastronomique, was first served in Paris at Maxim’s. It was created, according to legend, in error by Caroline Tatin at the hotel restaurant she ran with her sister Stephanie, in Lamotte-Beuvron, France, around 1898. The taste of caramel and the flavour of apples cooked in butter is absorbed by the pastry that covers the fruit during cooking and subsequently becomes the base of the tart when the cooked dish is inverted. Glistening, caramelized apples, the colour of rich butterscotch nestle in their syrupy sauce on top of the pastry.

Spouse’s first attempt to recreate this French speciality was met with such joy and encouragement that, to the delight of us all, he was spurred on to produce it time and again. The buttery sweetness of the apples forgave many an error. We learnt the merits of using the right variety of apple - Royal Gala and Golden Delicious hold their shape during cooking; last season’s produce even better results as they have a lower water content. We juggled recipe recommendations for the right pastry. It seems you can choose - puff pastry or short crust pastry (pâte brisée). Of course you can make your own short crust pastry easily enough, you can also buy varied grades of frozen pastry. If you are using a brand such as Carême you can proceed with confidence. No matter how good your pastry or exceptional your apples, or caramelly your syrup, though - do beware - ovens left unsupervised for far too long have the habit of delivering decidedly charred remains. On one occasion - so mortified were we on doing this we hastily resurrected what we could - formed it into the tiniest serves, delivered it to the table with a flourish and called it ‘Essence of Tarte Tatin’. It was eaten with relish too.

Unsurprisingly, decidedly useless recipes for cooking Tarte Tatin abound. Many are long and tedious and are never going to work. We eventually unearthed, in Damien Pignolet’s exceptional cookbook French, the quintessential, simplest and most predictable recipe to be found anywhere. Pignolet purports in his book that this is the original recipe. It was given to him by Alain Chagny, ‘famed head waiter of Tony’s Bon Goût in 1970s Sydney.’ Mark’s first attempt was a roaring success. He carries a photograph of this recipe on him so that he has a digital copy whenever he’s in need of conjuring up the most spectacular and at once comforting, of desserts.

Recently I was cooking a 50th birthday luncheon party for a dear friend and on this bitterly cold day a Tarte Tatin seemed the perfect finale to a French themed meal. With spouse missing in action though, I had to manufacture this myself and pay close attention to our new friend M. Pignolet’s wise counsel. The results were exceptional - even if I do say so myself and I recommend you try it too. Here is my recipe for Tarte Tatin, adapted from the original version published in French by Damien Pignolet. What I like about this recipe is that it can easily be adapted to cook as few as one or two serves - you are merely regulated by the size of the dish you cook it in. It is decidedly simple to make, just keep an eye on that oven.

Tarte Tatin

The steps are basic - First the apples are caramelized in sugar with a little butter and cooked until soft; Pastry is then placed over the top of the dish or the pan; The tart is baked just long enough for the pastry to cook; It is briefly cooled in the dish and then inverted onto a serving plate and served warm with cream.

For 8 - 10 generous serves

Equipment

• 26 - 30cm oven proof fry pan 4 - 6 cm deep. NB for a pan to be oven proof, the handle cannot be wood or plastic
• Good quality oven mitts
• A flat serving plate - a little larger than the diameter of the pan - to invert the cooked tart onto

Ingredients

• 500g (Butter) Puff or Short Crust pastry - (Câreme brand* is recommended. This is frozen and needs to be thawed out in the refrigerator for several hours or the day before. Available from specialty food stores)
• White Sugar
• 50g cold, unsalted butter
• 10 - 12 Golden Delicious or Royal Gala apples

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190C
• Roll the pastry to 3 - 4mm thickness
• Cut the pastry into a circle about 4cm wider than the pan you are cooking the apples in
• Lay the pastry over an inverted plate and chill in the refrigerator while you cook the apples
• Pour the sugar to a 1cm depth into the frying pan
• Thinly slice the butter and arrange over the sugar
• Peel and carefully core the apples, then cut them in half
• Tightly pack the apple halves on top of the sugar, cut surface facing up. Cut smaller pieces of apple to fill any gaps. Once you have filled the pan with a single tightly packed layer of apples, have handy an additional one or two because the apples shrink while cooking and you can add more pieces as necessary
• Place the pan over moderate heat. Once the sauce begins to colour, reduce the heat a little
• Continue cooking for up to 30 minutes, gently pushing the sugar with a wooden spoon, stirring the darker juices into the paler ones until the sauce is thick and caramelized. You may need to increase the heat a little but be ever watchful that the sauce does not burn. The apples will soften during this time and reduce in size. This is process is integral to the success of the dish - the apple pectin and caramel hold everything together and give the dish its distinctive taste.
• Remove the pan from the heat
• Drape the pastry over the pan
• Cut 6 - 8 slits into the overhanging pastry, flip these sections back to create a double thickness edge around the pan
• Bake for about 20 minutes - until the pastry is golden
• Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 or 10 minutes
• To un-mould the tart, run a knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the pastry. Place a serving platter over the pastry, pushing it hard against the rim of the pan - quickly invert the pan onto the plate. Be very quick and careful when you do this holding the pan and the plate firmly - escaping juices could cause a terrible burn on the inside of your wrists. Place the dish on a flat surface and lift away the pan. Spoon any remaining juices over the apples
• Serve warm with whipped cream

* For stockists visit www.caremepastry.com

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