Tarte tatin 101 - the easy hack

Tired of pumpkin pie? Stuffing? Your relatives?

How about a nice piece of tart?

Tarte tatin is my standby quick dessert. Its a lovely french tart that often is served cold and not very attractively at those formule restaurants near train stations in Paris. Those restaurants that attract people who need something to do before the train their train to Dieppe leaves. If I was to judge tarte tatin by those standards, I would never eat one again.

I used to use the Chez Panisse Dessert's recipe. Create a simple caramel with sugar and butter, don't over cook it or it'll crystalize and you'll have to start all over again, slice some apples or pears, place them decoratively in a pan and cover with pastry or puff pastry. Bake. Remove from oven. Let cool a bit and flip over to serve with the baked fruit glazed with caramel on a now soaked crust. Easy Peasy.

I have made it easier.

At first I used caramel sauce to replace the homemade caramel.

Then I found a stash of French salted butter caramels that I had misplaced in the fridge.  What about using these caramels? They are the same thing, just in a solid form.

Yup, that worked.

Before you go off looking for the best flight deals to Paris to get caramels, recognize that we have amazing caramels here in the US.  Look for local sources at farmer's markets, farm stands and your grocery store.  You'll be surprised by what you will find.

Three simple ingredients - a hunk of pie dough or frozen puff pastry, a few caramels and a ripe pear or apple or three and you have heaven on a plate.

Tarte Tatin aux poires (with apologies to Julia Child and Lindsey Shere)

Serves 6, with no leftovers.

Prep time: 15 minutes, baking time 35 minutes, to table ca. 1h 10 minutes.

1/2 lb all butter puff pastry or a 3" ball of pie crust (usually what I have left over from a standard recipe in this case, Kate McDermott's fabulous recipe)

2 ripe, but still firm pears or 4 ripe apples depending on the size of your fruit

3 T caramel from a jar or 4 or 5 1" caramels with wrappers removed

Preheat oven to 350.

Find a heavy cast iron skillet or a heavy bottomed skillet that is oven safe. Place skillet over low heat. Add caramels and allow caramels to melt but not bubble or burn. Remove from heat. Peel and core fruit, slice in half and then into quarters.  Place with either the round side down on top of the caramel in a lovely arrangement as seen in the picture or onto the side with the tapered side to the middle of the pan in a circle. Don't worry if all the pieces are not coated with caramel, it will redistribute as it bakes.

Roll out the puff pastry or pie crust to fit the pan.  Place on top of fruit mixture and tamp the sides down to go under the fruit. This way you will form an crust to keep in the juices and the caramel when it is flipped. Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes until crust is golden and fruit is burbling. Remove from oven, let sit for 15 minutes and then flip over onto a plate. Serve warm with ice cream, whipped cream or just plain.

Depending on the juiciness of the fruit (pears being more juicy), you may want to eat this sooner than later. It does keep for a day, but my guess is that it won't last that long.