I’m longing for “soup weather” and falling leaves and apple pie. It’s just been too hot, humid, and rainy this summer, and now the bugs have taken over. Picking about a dozen tomatoes landed me 35 mosquito bites yesterday. You have to make a run for it! The lingering memory of the Tarte Tatin I ate in France a couple years ago has
me back to the stove watching bubbling caramel and the homey aroma of cooking apples filling the kitchen. I had the good fortune to attend one of Susan Loomis‘ Sunday Lunches in her home in Louviers. I peeled apples in her gorgeous Normandy kitchen and feasted on a carrot hazelnut appetizer she was working on for her book, “Nuts in the Kitchen” and scrumptious guinea fowl. Her speciality is Tart Tatin. It seemed a natural for her, as her home is located on Rue Tatin.
I fell in love with France when I fell in love with Julia Child and cooking. After looking at French cookbooks with beautiful photography for many many years, I was able to make a journey there with my favorite people–my son and his family. I e-mailed Susan to see if there was a class or even possibly a luncheon planned for the week we would be there. A luncheon was arranged with another couple from Seattle and a group of American students who were studying in Paris for a semester.We had a short class in the kitchen (not usually included in the Sunday Lunch) before dining with her around the big table by the fireplace. We made mayonnaise the old fashioned way in a huge mortar and pestle, peeled apples and assembled a Tarte Tatin, and tasted some quickly seared foie gras she had picked up at the market. Delicious memories!
Tarte Tatin is said to originate in Hotel Tatin in 1898 with the Tatin sisters. The apples were left too long on the stove and started caramelizing. Stephanie rushed to rescue the impending disaster and placed only one sheet of pastry on top and sent it to the ovens. When turned upside down her guests loved it…and a legend was born. It became the signature dish of the hotel.
You know I just can’t leave well enough alone, so I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit to fit into my class timeframe and applied a pastry technique I learned from an Indian cookbook, to create flaky layers of dough in one fell swoop.The crust comes out buttery and crisp with caramelized tender apples on top. Please serve it warm right out of the oven with a scoop of the best vanilla bean ice cream. I can almost feel those dry cool breezes blowing through the apple orchard now, and dream of France, once again.
Tarte Tatin
Apples
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
4 gala apples, peeled and quartered
Preheat oven to 400º. Sprinkle the sugar evenly in an 8-inch heavy bottomed skillet or gratin that is oven proof. Peel and quarter the apples. Lay the apples on top of the sugar, curved side down, in concentric circles. Cut up the remaining apples that will not fit into smaller pieces and fill in the gaps. Cut the butter up and scatter over the apples. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat until the apples are tender and the caramel starts to darken, about 20-30 minutes.
In the meantime make the pastry
3/4 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
2-3 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon flour
Mix the flour and salt. Grate in 1/4 cup butter on the large holes of a flat grater, tossing the shards with flour as you go. Mix in just enough ice water to make a dough. Roll out into a 10-inch circle. Mix the softened butter and 1 tablespoon flour. Spread on top of the dough. Make a cut into the center of the dough. Starting at one edge, roll the dough up into a cone with the point being formed from the very center of the disk. . Stand on end and squash down into a disk of dough. Roll out into a 10-inch circle. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and refrigerate until the apples are cooked. (You could easily use a packaged puff pastry, or skip the part about rolling and smashing the cone. I’ll post a more thorough explanation of this method soon.)
When the syrup in the apples is starting to darken, place the pastry circle on top, tucking in the edges. Place on a baking sheet and into the oven to bake an additional 30-40 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes and turn upside down.
