Tarte Tatin

Making cakes take time, lots of time. Anyone who has tried to bring a mousseline together for a weekday dinner knows about this. I also curse a lot when I make cakes. I recognize this as a shortcoming but my theory is it may serve to keep me focused. Yes, I know, bad around the children, however it could help them to become passionate about cooking. It’s the best rationalization I can come up with on short notice.

As the weather starts to cool and baking doesn’t seem to be such an insane idea I start thinking about tartes; big, overflowing, juicy fruit tartes and berry tartes dripping with sweet sticky flavor. Tartes are incredibly easy to make and so with little time and practically no cursing I can prep and have ready for desert a very presentable finish to a weekday dinner. I can make this freeform tarte tatin and have it ready for the oven in about a half hour after I get home from work. If my wife has had a particularly bad day at the office I can make her all weepy by pulling it out of the oven just as she arrives home. Bad day forgotten, I’m a hero.

Pastry

Cut a cold stick of butter (227 gms) into small pieces. In a medium bowl add 1 cup of flour (227 gms) and a dash of salt and stir to mix. Add the butter pieces to the flour and squish the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is all incorporated. Use your fingers. Add just enough cold cream to bring the pastry together – about a quarter cup (60ml). Mash the pastry hard with the heel of your hand a few times on a work surface to finish it. Wrap it in plastic and throw it in the icebox until you’re ready to roll.

Filling

Peel, core and cut into quarters about three or four gala, macintosh, fuji (in a bind) or granny smith (if desperate) apples. Then cut the quarters into thin slices. Put the sliced apples in a bowl and sprinkle them with a little lemon juice.

Remove pastry from the fridge and roll it out into a large oval about 1/8 inch thick. Arrange the apple slices artfully in the middle. Bring the edges up and around the apples to form an edge. Brush beaten egg on the exposed pastry. Sprinkle a good deal of sugar on the apples and pastry. Bake the tarte on parchment paper on a baking sheet at 425 until the crust is crisp and golden, the apples bubbling and the aroma starts to make you crazy. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Go ahead, make someone cry tonight.