This French classic starts on top of the stove and finishes in the oven. A cast-iron fry pan with a short metal handle is ideal. A mixture of pears or quinces and apples can be used instead of just apples.
For a crumble or the tarte tartin choose sharp, juicy apples such as mutsu, granny smith or cox’s orange pippins.
Ingredients
- 8-10 crisp apples or equivalent combination of other fruits
- 60 grams unsalted butter
- 90 grams vanilla caster sugar
- juice of one lemon
Pastry
- 200 grams plain flour
- large pinch sea salt
- 125g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small dice
- 5-6 tablespoons of iced water
Method
Make the pastry in a food processor to avoid touching it with warm hands. Put the flour and salt into the processor and process. Add the cut butter and, using pulses, process until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. With the processor running, add the water, and pulse until the pastry begins to hold together in large clumps. Gather into a ball and roll out to about 29cm on a baking sheet – this may be enough for two tarts, in which case you can freeze half in a ball for another time. Hold in fridge while you prepare the apples.
Preheat the oven to 220C. Prepare the apples by peeling, quartering and coring them, but with one apple just peeled and cut in half around the middle and cored. Toss in the lemon juice to prevent their going brown.
Put the sugar in the frying pan and heat it gently until it melts to a dark brown liquid without burning. Watch it constantly because it will cook unevenly. Do not stir it, but shake or turn the pan to redistribute the sugar. Remove the pan from the heat and immediately place slices of about a third of the sugar over the sugar.
Put the half apple, cut side up in the middle of the pan, then arrange the other quarters around it in a wheel, on their sides, facing in one direction. up. Pack them in tightly. Then fit another round of apple quarters, packing them in on their edges and put the other half apple in the centre, curved side down. Dot with the remaining butter. Place the pan over a gentle heat and cook gently for about 10 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat, and place the pastry over the top, tuck it down around the edges like a blanket. Place a tray under the pan to catch juices and cook in the middle of the oven until the pastry is golden – about 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately cover it with a serving plate and flip the tart on to it so that the crust is on the bottom. Rearrange any stray fruit. Serve hot.
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