Apple Tarte Tatin
INGREDIENTS
5 or 6 Golden Delicious apples Pie crust or puff pastry sufficient for a 9- to 10-inch circle Juice of 1 lemon ¾ to 1 cup sugar 1 stick unsalted butter, plus a little more for dotting the top of the apples
About ½ cup sliced dried apricots
INSTRUCTIONS
Note: If your skillet has a rubber or plastic handle, wrap the handle with two layers of aluminum foil before using.
Line the base of an 8-inch heavy, preferably nonstick skillet with 1/8-inch-thick slices of unsalted butter. Sprinkle liberally with sugar, about ½ cup. Peel and cut apples into quarters. (I prefer Golden Delicious for this tart.)
Place apples cut-side-up onto butter/sugar. Apples should fit together as closely as possible; it takes about 5 medium apples. Fill in any gaps with pieces of apple and sliced dried apricots, and cover the whole thing with thinly sliced apple. Squeeze a lemon over the top and place pan on medium/low heat, covered. Let it simmer undisturbed until the butter and sugar caramelizes and softens the apples. You can check by gently lifting one of the apple quarters and peeking to see when it gets golden and slightly browned. It will take about 20 minutes, but check carefully that it doesn’t burn.
Roll out pie crust to a 9- to 10inch circle. You can use puff pastry, or make your own flaky (but not puffed) pastry with 1¼ cups of flour, a stick of unsalted butter and iced water.
Remove pan from heat, dot the top of the apples with butter, place pastry circle over the top of the apples, tucking the edges down to form a thicker rim. Be careful; it is hot! Prick the pastry all over with a fork, sprinkle with ¼ cup of sugar and place in a hot (380-degree) oven and cook until well browned.
Remove from oven. Carefully place a dinner-sized plate over the pan, and with one hand holding the pan and one hand holding down the plate, very carefully flip it over so that the tart is now on the plate with caramelized appleside-up. You need to do this while everything is still hot or the apples will stick in the pan. (If you want to make a few hours ahead and still serve warm, you can leave everything in the pan, and reheat gently on top of the stove until the caramel melts again, then flip onto a plate as described above.) Serve at room temperature or while still slightly warm with crème fraîche.
This is also very good made with pears with the addition of some chopped almonds scattered on with the apricots. Often made in France with quince, but they are hard to find here.
It sounds complicated, but is actually very simple. This recipe was given to me by a friend in the Bordeaux region of France many years ago. He would casually make it while everyone was having a pre-dinner glass of wine. Then it was just the right temperature in time for dessert! RECIPE COURTESY OF CHEF JENNY YOUNG