I bake - Tarte tatin

I like apples a lot in cooking and baking, more than eating them straight. I think that cooking them with a little bit heat softens their bright but perhaps slightly too sharp flavor and smell. I like its mellowness but still with distinct freshness after cooking.

In savory dishes, I have eaten apples with boudin blanc/noir (type of french sausages), with grilled pork chops, or as part of the latkes. In desserts, it may not be too bold to call apples the king of fruit in dessert. When it comes to baking, it's a truly versatile fruit. Cakes, muffins, pies, tarts, Viennoiseries, you name it. One of the easiest and my favorites is Tarte Tatin. It is not a complicated recipe, with just a handful of ingredients which you probably have most of them in the house. What you need is a non-stick pan suitable for oven and the patience (and the will power) to leave the apples alone in the pan of caramel syrup for 40 minutes. Desserts are about indulgence, pampering yourself. So don't be skimp on all the essentials (sugar and butter, that is). I have tried several versions of Tarte Tatin and this is probably the best version I have made so far.

My tarte tatin

Puff pastry, rolled out to 3mm thick
6 Braeburn apples,* peeled, cored and halved
50g butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbsp of Calvados (optional)
a non-stick pan which can be used in the oven

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan on the stove with a gas dial set to medium. When the butter is all melted, put in the sugar. Stir lightly to mix both ingredients with a wooden spoon.

When the butter-sugar mixture changes its color to light caramel, splash in vanilla and distribute it around in the pan. Arrange the apple halves (with the cut-side facing up) in the pan.

Cook the apples patiently for 40 minutes. Flip the apple halves a few time so that you get nice caramel all around them. Refrain from turning them too often. Halfway through, add in Calvados (if used). Make sure that apple halves still have their cut-side up at the end of the cooking stage.

When the apples are ready, cover them with puff pastry. Pierce a few times on the puff pastry so that steam can escape. Put the whole pan in the oven at 200C for 30 minutes. When it's done, remove it from the oven. Cover the pan with a plate bigger than the diameter of your pan. Hold the plate tightly against the pan (with oven gloves, of course), flip the pan over decisively and quickly. Your tarte tatin should come out easily and with luscious caramel flowing.

Bon appetit!

*Any type of tangy apples which hold the shape well under heat would do. Braeburn is easily accessible to me here. The actual number of apples required will depend on the size of the apple and the diameter of your pan. I use small apples, about my fist size. My pan is about 24-cm in diameter.