Apple and rosemary tarte tatin
This a particularly glorious tarte tatin – the difference from the norm being that it’s made with a quick rough-puff pastry and caramel spiked with rosemary and bay. The result is a wonderfully dark, sweet and sour apple topping with a crisp, buttery pastry underneath that stays crisp for a while, even after being drenched in custard or melted ice cream. I use strong flour, which I like for puff pastry because it needs a bit more strength than plain flour can provide due to all the fat and layers that are built into it.
2 HOURS 15 MINUTES + CHILLING SERVES 6-8 | A LITTLE EFFORT
PASTRY
strong bread flour 200g, plus extra for dusting
unsalted butter 185g, frozen
white wine vinegar 2 tsp
FILLING
Bramley or Cox apples 6 caster sugar 200g
unsalted butter 30g
rosemary 2-3 sprigs
bay leaves 1-2
1 To make the pastry, whisk together the flour and 1/2 tsp of salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Coarsely grate in the frozen butter. Mix until combined but still lumpy with visible bits of butter – you just want to coat the butter in the flour. Stir together 60ml of ice-cold water and the vinegar, then add this to the bowl and mix until a dough forms.
2 Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of baking paper, lay another sheet on top and roll it out lengthways using a rolling pin. Remove the top sheet of paper, then fold the pastry into three like a letter (this is called a single turn). Chill for 2 hours, then roll out again, complete another single turn, turn the pastry by 90 degrees and fold again. Chill for another 2 hours, then complete two more single turns and chill for a final 2 hours.
3 Roll out the pastry into a 25cm-wide, 5mmthick circle on a worksurface dusted with flour, then chill. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/ gas 6. Peel the apples, halve and core.
4 Set a tatin pan or ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Sprinkle in the sugar and gently melt until caramelised and an amber colour. Add the butter and stir well until melted and combined, then add the rosemary and bay, and remove from the heat. Arrange the apples in the pan, cored-sides down. Lay the pastry circle on top of the apples, gently tucking the edge around the apples (be careful not to burn your hands). Bake for 30 minutes.
5 Reduce the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let it stand for a few minutes. Carefully put a plate on top of the frying pan and, while wearing oven gloves, flip it over before removing the pan. Enjoy with ice cream, custard or cream.
PER SERVING (8) 423 kcals | fat 22.6G saturates 14.1G | carbs 50.4G | sugars 31.6G fibre 2.1G | protein 3.5G | salt 0.3G