Ingredients (serves 2-3):
- Puff pastry – around 400g, enough to make a 3mm thick piece big enough to cover your chosen pan
- A dozen or more shallots – peeled
- 120g of caster sugar
- 3 tablespoons of water
- 80g of unsalted butter – cubed
- Salt and pepper
- 4 rashers of back bacon – diced
- Brie or other similar cheese
- Fresh rocket salad
Start by heating the oven upto 170 degrees C. While the oven is heating up you can prepare the meal. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry so that you have a 3mm thick circle the same size as the pan you’ll be using (I used an 8″ one). Cut the shallots in half and try to make sure that they’re all of a similar height. This may mean not cutting some of them in half and maybe trimming a bit more from some others. You’ll need enough to cover the base of the pan.
In the pan you’re going to use for the tarte you should add the sugar and water and cook until it turns to caramel, which should take around ten minutes on a medium to high heat. Try not to stir the caramel. Once it starts to turn an amber colour, reduce the heat to minimum and whisk in the butter in a cube at a time until dissolved. Repeat until all the cubes have been used. Finish it off with a grind of pepper. Don’t be tempted to taste the caramel as it’ll be very hot!
Remove the pan from the heat and, before it goes hard, place the shallots evenly around the pan, packing them well together. Prick the pastry all over with a fork before placing it over the shallots. It’s important to tuck it down the edges and in-between the shallots. Put the pan into the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is nice and golden. Remove and allow the tatin to rest for a few minutes once done.
After the tatin has been in the oven for ten minutes you can start on the salad. Add a little oil to a pan and fry the bacon until nice and crispy. When you remove the tatin from the oven you should put some chunks of cheese under the grill until it just starts to melt.
To get the tatin out of the pan you’ll need to hold a plate faced down over the pan and turn the pan and plate over at the same time. Hopefully the tatin will pop out onto the plate so that when you lift off the pan you’ll be left with a lovely looking tarte.
Serve up by cutting a slice of the tartin and dress the plate with some rocket salad, dressed with balsamic, and add the bacon and grilled cheese. A very nice meal!
0 Comments.