or tarte tatin. but say it 3x fast after a bottle of cabernet using an affected bad accent - and it’s totally ‘ta tata’…
so this is a very, very good thing to have in your repertoire. an old french standby - circa 1889. have cast iron pan, will tarte tatin make. it’s 3 ingredients plus the pastry. golden delicious apples, (vanilla bean) sugar and (plugra) butter.
and then get this - after using all those beautiful high end ingredients - i went and bought the frozen pepperidge farm puff pastry. yup. because i don’t do pastry, remember? it is too much work. too messy. too prone to go wrong. screw it. just buy it. there you go. see how easy that was? told ya… (btw - the brand ‘dufour‘ is better than ‘pf’ but as far as i can tell, not available in nashville).
julia child does a wonderful version in ‘the way to cook’. ‘cooks illustrated‘ has a version too that i looked at closely. you can also find a couple on ‘epicurious‘. basic tarte tatin recipes are everywhere and they’re all very similar. but i did lightly sprinkle some salt granules on top of the tarte as soon as it was released from the pan. buttery caramel apples with just a touch of good salt, preferably guerande - but any fleur de sel will do - well, i think it brightens the flavor. makes it more interesting.
the thing about a tarte tatin is to just go ahead and make one. and then make it again and again until you get the feel for it. then you can whip one of these babies up any time and on short notice (frozen pastry anyone?) with very little effort and be a huge hit amongst the plebeians.
because secretly, isn’t that what we really want…
14 responses so far ↓
1 Mary Coleman // Jan 27, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Only you would have me sitting at my computer saying “ta ta ta…ta tata…tata ta…ta tata” to noone in particular.
2 Robert // Jan 27, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Fret
I thrash over this Crawfish Crust and you are doing PF and prevailing……. (Fingers in ears, not listning)…..Lalalalala
3 claudia // Jan 27, 2008 at 5:41 pm
mary - that is hilarious… i can see you now!
robert - it would so disappoint me - given your heritage, to hear that you opted out and bought frozen pastry. BUT having said alla that you may just wanna keep a box in your freezer for emergencies…
4 Lesley // Jan 27, 2008 at 6:17 pm
A-HA! I was right about the Fleur de Sel. I’ve decided that my kosher sea salt is just not enough. I must have some nice finishing salt.
5 claudia // Jan 27, 2008 at 6:58 pm
anyone with a blog called ‘lesley eats’ should have at the minimum 4 kinds of salt in their pantry….
6 Donald // Jan 28, 2008 at 5:55 am
See…that looks wonderful. But I feel really dumb now. When I saw the post in my reader, I thought it was about potatoes.
/hangs head
7 lcreekmo // Jan 28, 2008 at 8:49 am
Well this looks delicious, and I’m not generally a fan of apple dishes. But I have to say, you are conspiring against me somehow. Because making pastry is so simple. I mean, I have messed it up before, but it’s always easy to figure out how. If you follow the recipe [often a problem for me, but I try to do so when baking], it’s practically foolproof. If you ever want to tackle it again, let me know.
And the conspiracy? Well, if you think pastry is hard, I guess I should shut my mouth before saying anything else you’re making around here looks out of my league. [Though lots of it does.]
I have a feeling I’m only partially making sense. Must. Finish. Diet. Coke. Before. Interacting.
8 Meg // Jan 28, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Oh, I love tarte tatin. I’m pretty sure I always stick the “e” in the wrong place, though. I’m all for buying frozen puff pastry.
I would make one, but I am still eating my daughter’s birthday cake as breakfast. And then I think the treadmill and I will have to become reacquainted.
9 Lauren // Jan 28, 2008 at 4:48 pm
if only you had made fritata for the main course, then it could have been fritata ta tata…oh how i am easily amused….
10 joy // Jan 28, 2008 at 6:44 pm
beautiful tarte tatin!
I’ve tried it the traditional way in the skillet, (and with pears too- they’re great!) but have you ever tried doing little individual pastry cups, the kind made out of aluminum foil, and putting the round already cut puff pastry on top? i did it once bec. I bought the wrong kind of p.p. and they were so cute. I love individual desserts sometimes. it seems a little more special even though the t.t. is the same and I agree, is a lot easier than it looks.
11 yveala // Jan 29, 2008 at 12:37 am
Ta tata ta La la la will acompany my ta tata this week… headed for the frozen food section now..
12 jim voorhies // Jan 29, 2008 at 1:23 pm
We’ve got a friend who would make a pie from scratch at the drop of a hat and threw the crust together almost as an afterthought. PF rules (locally, that is) is my motto. But regular butter doesn’t have enough butterfat in it? And vanilla bean sugar? I’m beginning to suspect you don’t shop at a Food Town.
13 claudia // Jan 29, 2008 at 1:33 pm
jim - plugra is amazing for baking. truly. worth it. buy some. the vanilla bean sugar is just me taking a used bean - one who’s guts are scraped out and throwing it in with my sugar. verrrrry nice… is Food Town a real live place? like Allen Town? wow - i should move there…
14 FireDog // Jan 31, 2008 at 11:27 am
emmmmmmruf!
That’s me making begging and barking sounds like a dog!
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