Brent Everett Gallery

Paris: Tarte Tatin.

I love Paris - Ella Fitzgerald

Ah Paris ...
Each of us has a special place in the heart that causes heartache , excitement, surprise, nostalgia, desire, inspiration. I can say I traveled a lot for over twenty years and I'm lucky to have a job that makes the journey his reason for being. But of all the places I've seen, touched, loved and mourned, Paris remains strong, stable and stubborn in the first place. I know, I know, it's easy to say Paris and fly its outstanding array of wonders it is virtually impossible but I do not like making comparisons between one place and another because I have always found everyone in that particular that I made him unforgettable and dear.

But I do not know, there is a kind of enchantment in the city, something that will take you and addictive, a mysterious link which I have, even today, understand the reason. The fact is that I and my husband at least once a year, we must make a journey of devotion to Paris. Last November, for his birthday. 4 days of constant rain, fine as the spray of a perfume (even the rain is chic in Paris), what you hear, invisible, but you get wet from head to toe in minutes. Yet Paris was there, still beautiful in its elegance and po'distaccata: even the rain has managed to scratch the slightest ns. joy to be there.

The positive side is that the rain in search of places where to take shelter indoors, it ends up discovering special places, small bistro, boulangerie, wonderful pastries. And the hours fly sitting at a table by coating a crunchy baguette with salted butter or pate de campagne that ... ah ... nostalgia

So, to win the "ill-Paris" and have an excuse to eat something absolutely gorgeous, I decided today I do the Tarte Tatin.

admit a bit 'of embarrassment is my first time. It has always seemed a sweet and genuinely challenging, I felt always in awe with this recipe. I do not know exactly why, but after consulting my cookbooks, several magazines and asked for advice in Colombo, my Parisian friend, I decided to throw me.

It 's true that some of the most sensational sweets are the result of blunders. For this small cake, composed of ingredients the minimum is exactly what happened. Imagine preparing a dish for apple pie and forget lining with the pastry ... crazy stuff right? Yet, thanks to the carelessness of one of the sisters Tatin, which takes its name, today we have this little masterpiece of pastry. In its simplicity of composition, the result offers a sumptuous sweet and absolutely unforgettable. Here are a few ingredients we need for a cake of 24/26 cm:

Ingredients

200 grams of flour 100 g butter
• 4 / 5 golden apples or rennet
• 3 / 4 tablespoons cold water
• a pinch of salt in the flour
• 140 grams of sugar (including cane if you prefer)
• few drops of lemon.

First I prepared the pasta brise, poor cousin of the crust, crumble the butter into the flour with your fingertips. When the flour and butter mixture formed a grainy, I paid the 'water and mix everything very quickly how to do it for the pastry. Now the ball in the fridge, wrapped in foil, for at least 30 min.

brise While resting, I peeled the apples and cut into 8 wedges. The most challenging part was to prepare the caramel. At the first blow did not succeeded, I had a hard mass without form and I had to start over. Then I realized the trick. You have to put sugar in a frying pan from the top edge, pour a little water (a couple of tablespoons), and a few drops of lemon, which helps the oxidation and caramelization of sugar. The flame should be moderate and sugar should not be touched. Should melt without help, at most you can rotate the pan with the handle. When it gets dark, the caramel is ready now, it's up to us to choose whether we want it brown or blond. I removed the pan from heat and cool slightly while I left the buttered pan. Council to put a nice layer of butter on the bottom of the cake.

Then I poured the caramel and rotating the pan, I covered the whole bottom. I placed the slices of apple with the round part in contact with the caramel, very close to each other, making sure no gaps (important, because when he overthrew the cake cooler apples tend to go away and will still be a bit 'of their small size original having lost some' of their liquid).

Now that apples are in place in the pan, you have to stretch out with a brise rolling pin and roll the dough round c.ca 5 mm thick, able to create a lid on apples. Gently and the help of my rolling pin, I placed the dough on the apples and tried to "tucking" the dough around the apples around the edges, as is done with the covers of a bed. We can assist you with a knife or a wooden spatula, and try to imagine the effect that we want him, considering that when the cake will be reversed, those strips of pasta should be the ns. edges.

Inform at 200 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 180 degrees and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes, or however you see that the pasta begins to brown.

The Tarte Tatin is reversed almost immediately. It 'a very delicate and you may get burned because the caramel, with the juice of apples will be very liquid. Do not wait over 10 minutes, otherwise the apples stick to the pan and the effect will be ruined.

This cake is typically served hot. In Paris, I ate accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream or English, but I think his real death is a dollop of whipped cream.

My first Tatin failed badly. I love the flavor dellà brise "in contrast with the sweetness of caramelized apples. In some recipes, I noticed that you put the sugar in the dough of the brise, but I'd be more inclined to enhance the contrast, perhaps using the salted butter. Maybe next time I will.

Meanwhile, Bon Apetit!


With this post I participate in the Contest Morena on Softly sweet apple apple-eat