Tarte Tatin....Upside Down Green Apple Pie


Courtesy Of Wikipedia On Google

Culinary wonders sometimes result from mistakes during cooking.  One of those wonderful mistakes is the Tarte Tatin.


 The Tatin sisters owned an inn back in the 19th Century somewhere in France.  One of the sisters was making a traditional  apple pie when something went wrong; she forgot the apples mixed with the sugar and the butter on the fire too long and caramelized them. She quickly covered them with a sheet of pastry and continued the cooking in the oven. To her surprise her dessert was liked by all her patrons and so the Tarte Tatin was born.


First Trial Alone At Home
Second Trial At My Brother In Law's
Kitchen.









To tell you the truth I have never seen or tasted a Tarte Tatin. I have heard so much about it that I wanted to make it. My first trial was a flop according to my wife and daughter, although I loved it. The second trial was also a flop according to my brother in law, his wife, my wife and daughter so that is why you are seeing a mixture of photos here trying to explain the best way to make it. The whole secret is to succeed in making a proper caramel with the butter and all. Put your trust in me and make it. All you will lose is 1.3 kg of green apples, 50 grms of butter and 100 gms. of sugar and maybe some energy!
To make a Tarte Tatin you will need:
Serves 8-10
-  1.3 kg of Granny Smith Green Apples, peeled, cored, cut in half, and each half in 3 equal pieces.


















-  230 gms of short crust pastry (pâte brisée) round ready made bought from the super market.
-  100 gms of caster sugar.
-  3 Tbsp. water.
-  50 gms butter.
-  A small sauce pan to make the caramel in.
-  A 20 cm in diameter mold.
Method:
Ingredients and method are from "Le Petit Larousse de la Cuisine 1800 recèttes édition 2006".
-  Add the sugar, and the water on very low heat and let sugar dissolve without stirring.
-  You will see that the sugar is slowly dissolving.
-  When it start boiling, keep a close eye on it since at some point it will start darkening and the beautiful aroma of caramel will fill the kitchen.


-  At this point tilt your saucepan to unify the color.
-  That is when you have to take the saucepan off the heat.   Carefully keeping the saucepan away from you add 1 Tbsp. cold water to stop the cooking of the caramel.


-  Add the butter and let it melt,
-  Pour the caramel to cover the base of the mould. 
Tip: Be careful when you handle caramel.  Everything gets very hot.-  Start adding the apple pieces snugly together making sure you include all the pieces you have cut even if you have to add a second tier. They will appear too many but they will fit.  When cooked they will fit even better.
-  Bake for 45 minutes in a 200 degree Centigrade oven middle shelf.


-  Take out from oven and let cool.

-  Get your ready made short crust from the fridge, unroll over the mould.


-  Try as best as you can to fit the excess pastry between the mould and the apples.  Make a few holes with a fork and bake for another 35 minutes in the same temperature as above.
-  Take out from oven, let it cool.

-  Place the serving dish upsidedown on the mould, and invert, placing the pastry on the plate, and the apples facing you.








-  Let cool, serve warm or cold with fresh cream, ice cream, or just plain.
I loved it!! Many people do not like cooked apples, others like more crust on the apple such as the American double crusted apple pie my wife makes very well. Recipe to be  posted shortly.
Enjoy!
Stelio

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bamia Mafroukeh--Ladies fingers with beef or lamg -Taste of Sudan.

S udan is the largest country in Africa. Lately there was a quarrel between the North and South (Juba). The reason: Oil. Chevron and other Petroleum companies found lots of Oil reserves in the South and so the fight started. I personally visited the village of Bentu, in the South during one of my visits to Chevron Oil Company in the South. As all countries, the Sudan also has its local foods. A very popular one is Molokhia which grows only in summer. Bamia, in Arabic, lady's fingers or internationally known as Okra can be readily found all year round. Bamia Mafroukeh is a delicious food eaten with the Sudanese bread called Kisra. The term Mafroukeh is act of breaking down the bamia when it well cooked to turn it into a thick, soup. There is special wooden utensil the Sudanese use. Ingredients: - 1 kg bamia Lady's fingers or Okra. - 1 kg beef or lamb bone free. - 1/2 kg fresh tomatoes cut in quarters. - 1 big onion roughly cut. - 6 cloves of garlic finely cut. - 
Read more

Brandade de Morue - Cod / Potato Mash Gratin.

Image
T his recipe is based on Jacques Pepin's with a slight twist from myself to suit Greek taste. This recipe is for 4 persons as a starter. Ingredients : - 1 kg of salted cod fillet. - 1 kg of potatoes skinned. - 1.5 cups full fat milk. - At least 6 large cloves of garlic - 2 tsp. grated lemon zest. - 4 tsp, lemon juice. - Cayenne pepper to taste. - 1 cup of olive oil. - Freshly ground black pepper to taste - Freshly grated Parmigiano cheese. Procedure : - Preheat oven to 200 deg. C. - Skin the cod fillet and immerse into cold water and refrigerate. - Change water as many times as possible over the next 24 hours to desalinate. - Meanwhile boil the potatoes till tender (fork easily pearces potato).Peel and cut into pieces when cool. - When the cod is desalinated, cook in water by lightly simmering water until fork easily pearces the fish. Do not over cook the fish lest it becomes too hard. - Once cooled, make sure to the best of your ability to omit all the bon
Read more

Spaghetti with Portobello mushrooms, garlic, and Gorgonzola Cheese.

Image
B arilla No. 7 Spaghetti is the best type to use for this recipe because they are thick and fill your mouth very pleasantly with the ingredients. The parmesan cheese gives a general fantastic taste.   Ingredients:    Serves 5 - 500 gms Spaghetti no. 7 - 500 gms of Portobello mushrooms cubed big. - 150 gms Gorgonzola cheese room temperature. - 4 big cloves of garlic smashed and passed thru the garlic press. - 500 ml of fresh cream 35% fat. - 50 gms of fresh butter. - Salt and pepper to taste. - Ground nutmeg to taste. - Parmesan cheese. Procedure: - First make the sauce then the spaghetti. - In a small pan dissolve the Gorgonzola in the cream and keep hot. - In a big pan melt butter, add the cubed mushrooms, and saute slightly 1 minute. The mushrooms must not soften. - Add garlic and stir 1/2 minute. - At this point boil the water for the spaghetti (100 ml of water per 100 gms of spaghetti). - Add the cream/Gorgonzola mixture to the mushrooms a
Read more