Last week-end, Stephanie taught me how to cook a "Tarte Tatin". This name refers to a French version of the traditional apple pie, which has the peculiarity of placing the apples at the bottom, and not at the top (as we usually do in Spain) or inside a pastry crust (as I've seen sometimes in England and the US). The story behind the name is worth mentioning:Tarte Tatin is an upside-down apple tart in which the apples are caramelized in butter and sugar before the tart is baked. Tradition says that the Tarte Tatin was first created by accident at the Hotel Tatin in Lamotte-Beuvron, France in 1889. The hotel was run by two sisters, Stéphanie and Caroline Tatin. There are conflicting stories concerning the tart's origin, but the predominant one is that Stéphanie Tatin, who did most of the cooking, was overworked one day. She started to make a traditional apple pie but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar for too long. Smelling the burning, she tried to rescue the dish by putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples, quickly finishing the cooking by putting the whole pan in the oven. After turning out the upside down tart, she was surprised to find how much the hotel guests appreciated the dessert. An alternative version of the tart's origin says that Stéphanie baked a caramelised apple tart upside-down by mistake. Regardless she served her guests the unusual dish hot from the oven and a classic was born. The Tarte became a signature dish at the Hotel Tatin and the recipe spread through the Sologne region. Its lasting fame is probably due to the restaurateur Louis Vaudable, who tasted the tart on a visit to Sologne and made the dessert a permanent fixture on the menu at his restaurant Maxim's of Paris. (source: wikipedia)
Et voila! What better teacher to learn this recipe from than a real French Stephanie? Fortunately, she was kind and patient enough to let me take photos of the process and she also helped me put the recipe in writing so that I can share it with all of you here. Bon appetit! :-)
Ingredients:
- 4 apples / 4 pommes / 4 manzanas
- 2 eggs / 2 oeufs / 2 huevos
- 250g of flour / 250g de farine / 250g de harina
- Some milk /du lait / un poco de leche
- 150g of sugar / 150g de sucre / 150 g de azucar
- Some butter / du beurre / un poco de mantequilla
We place a small cube of butter on a frying pan and have it melt. We peel and cut the apples in small pieces and we put them in the pan together with the butter, as shown in the picture. Eplucher et couper les pommes en lamelles pas trop fines. Laisser fonder un peu de beurre dans une poelle et ajouter les pommes. Fundimos un cubito de mantequilla en una sarten. Pelamos las manzanas, las cortamos en trozos pequeños como los de la foto y las ponemos en la sarten con la mantequilla.
We add some sugar, that will become caramel after melting. Faire carameliser les pommes dans la poelle en ajoutant du sucre sur les lamelles de pommes, remuer. Añadimos el azucar, que al calentarse acabara convirtiendose en caramelo.
After a while, we will obtain a nice set of caramelized apple pieces. Apres quelques minutes, les pommes sont tendres et caramelisees. Al cabo de unos minutos, las manzanas estaran tiernas y se habran caramelizado.
In parallel with the above, we put some flour in a mixing bowl. We add some sugar. If available, we can also add some baking powder at this point. Parallelement a l'anterieur, melanger le reste de sucre (75g environ) a la farine et si possible un sachet de levure. En paralelo con lo anterior, mezclamos el resto del azucar y la harina. Si tenemos, añadimos tambien un sobrecito de levadura.
If we are using baking powder, we simply add the eggs and stir. Otherwise, we separate the white from the yolks, we add the egg yolks to the flour and sugar and we stir, as shown in the picture. Ajouter un a un les oeufs et melanger. En cas de manqué de levure, ajouter les jaunes seulement et monter les blancs en neige pour les incorporer après le lait. Si estamos usando levadura, simplemente añadimos ahora los dos huevos y batimos la mezcla. Si no estamos usando levadura, separamos las claras de las yemas, añadimos dichas yemas a la mezcla y batimos, como se muestra en la foto.
As we do this, we also add the milk until the consistency of the mixture becomes a paste, but not too liquid. Ajouter ensuite du lait jusqu’a ce que la texture soit celle d’une pate, pas trop liquide. A medida que batimos, añadimos un poco de leche hasta obtener una pasta con cierta consistencia, pero sin que se vuelva demasiado liquida.
We keep on stirring until a mixture like the one shown in the picture is obtained. On continue a remouer jusqu'a ce que l'on obtient une pate comme celle de la photo. Seguimos batiendo hasta obtener una pasta como la de la foto.
If we are not using baking powder, we whisk the egg whites on a separate container. Once the white mousse is obtained, we add it to the egg and flour mixture and we beat everything again until a homogeneous mixture is obtained. Voici le moment de monter les blancs et de les incorporer, si l'on n'utilise pas de levure. Si no estamos usando levadura, este es el momento de montar las claras de huevo a punto de nieve e incorporarlas a la mezcla.
At this point, it is a good idea to melt some more butter and add it to improve the consistency of the mix. Melanger le tout pour obtenir une pate onctueuse et legere. Faire fonder un peu de beurre en pomade et ajouter a la pate. Para mejorar la consistencia de la pasta, suele ser una buena idea fundir un poco de mantequilla y añadirla a la mezcla.
Once the paste and the apples are ready, we spread some butter over the bottom of an oven-ready recipient and add some sugar until a thin uniform layer is formed, as shown in the images. Beurrer le moule a tarte et ajouter du sucre pour qu’il caramelise a la caisson (cela aide aussi au demoulage). Cuando la pasta y las manzanas estan listas, untamos mantequilla en el fondo del recipiente que vayamos a usar para hornear la tarta y espolvoreamos azucar de manera uniforme (al calentarse, se caramelizara y sera util para evitar que la tarta se pegue al fondo).
We add the caramelized apples and distribute them evenly. Mettre les pommes caramelisees au fond du moule. Añadimos las manzanas caramelizadas.
We then add the egg and flour mixture on top of the apples. Ajouter par dessus la pate. Añadimos la pasta encima de las manzanas.
We then place the recipient inside the oven, starting at 120 degrees Celsius and gradually rising the temperature up to around 200 degrees. 4. After around 30 minutes, our tarte tatin should be ready to serve. Mettre au four pendant environ 30 min, a temperature moyenne (120 degres Celcius) au debut pour faire monter un peu la pate puis a 200 degres Celcius pour le reste de la caisson. Metemos la tarta en el horno durante aproximadamente 30 minutos. Empezamos a temperatura media, en torno a los 120 grados, y vamos subiendo poco a poco hasta llegar a los 200.
We take it out of the oven and it goes directly to the table. Sortez du four, laisse refroidir un peu et server encore tiede. Sacamos la tarta del horno, dejamos que se enfrie un poco y la servimos cuando todavia esta caliente.
A scoop of vanilla ice-cream makes a great companion! Une boule de glace a la vanilla est un tres bon accompagement! Como acompañamiento en el plato, nada mejor que una bola de helado de vainilla!
