Yummie!!!

After having threatened our apple-tree with cutting it down for unproductiveness, it pulled itself together and produced a massive amount of fruits. We can hardly keep up with harvesting them. So what better to do with it than making a modified Tarte tatin?

Here comes the surprisingly simple recipe for an upside-down rosemary-apple-tarte:

Ingredients: 

• 1 roll  of puff pastry from the shop
• 100 gr caster sugar
• 60 ml water
• 60 ml cream
• 100 gr unsalted butter, roughly cubed
• 1 vanilla bean
• 4 to 5 small, sweet apples
• a couple of twigs of rosemary (not on the picture)

Preparation: 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Peel the apples, remove the cores and cut 1 to 2 cm thick rings. You can drizzle some lemonjuice over them to prevent them from becoming brown, but they will turn brown anyways while baking. But the lemonjuice adds some acidity.

For making the caramel, sprinkle the caster sugar in an ovenproof pan and add the water. Dissolve the sugar on medium heat and continue to let bubble until the mixture is golden brown and smooth. Caution, caramel is very hot, you can get seriously injured! Don’t leave the pan unattended, caramel can get burnt very quickly.

When it has the required colour and texture (this takes about 10 to 15 minutes), remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cream. Add butter, vanillaseeds and rosemary, stir well until all the ingredients are combined well. As soon as the butter is melted, arrange the apple rings so that the whole base of the pan is covered evenly.

Take the puff pastry out of the fridge, roll it out and cut out a big circle that is a bit bigger than the pan. I use a big plate as a template. Place the puff pastry over the apples and stuff the edges down along the walls of the pan. No worries, it does not have to be perfect as the tarte looks somewhat messy in the end anyways. Put the pan back on the heat and let it boil up for about a minute. And again, no problem when the caramel is sipping over the edges, this is part of the tarte (and it rhymes, obviously 🙂 )

Now place the pan in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

Please be careful when removing the pan from the oven, the whole thing is extremely hot! I burnt my palms heavily when touching the handle thoughtlessly!

Let rest for 30 seconds and then turn the tarte up-side down on a serving plate. I needed help – someone else holds the pan while I turn the pan together with the plate, using a towel to hold the whole thing. Adjust the apples.

Voilà: the most divine apple-tarte lies in front of you! Garnish with some twigs of rosemary, wait a few minutes, add some vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce and dive into paradise!