Several weeks ago I promised to blog Chef Fran Broadbery’s Plum Island Grille Apple Tarte Tatin recipe. Unfortunately I’ve been struggling to get the recipe to work, which is why you haven’t seen it posted yet. Fran warned me it can be difficult (if not impossible) to take a recipe from a professional kitchen and convert it into a recipe suitable for a domestic kitchen, so I knew there was a chance the recipe wouldn’t work. Never fear, however, after many attempts I finally have a recipe that will work in any home kitchen…even if you’re not a domestic god or goddess!!
So, without further adieu, I am happy to present to you this wonderful Plum Island Grille inspired Apple Tarte Tatin. We are smack in the middle of apple season, so I hope you enjoy this wonderfully delicious, super easy, recipe. Cheers!
Step one: put apples in water with lemons.
Step two: melt butter and add sugar.
Step three: caramelise the butter and sugar.
Step four: add the apples rounded side down and bake for 20 minutes.
Step five: cover with puff pastry and bake.
Step six: remove from oven.
Step seven: carefully invert the Tarte Tatin onto a plate.
Step eight: top with vanilla ice cream and serve.
Apple Tarte Tatin
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
1 sheet of puff pastry (you can make your own, but why bother!)
110g/4oz unsalted butter
225g/8oz sugar
4 apples, peeled, cored and cut into halves or quarters (Granny Smith are perfect, but really any apple is fine)
1 lemon, cut in half
Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C/400°F.
2. Place apples (peeled, cored and cut) into a medium size bowl. Cover with water and squeeze the juice of the lemon into the water. Put the lemon halves into the water as well.
3. In a skillet, melt the butter over moderate heat. Stir in the sugar. The mixture will be grainy at first, but be patient…and don’t turn up the heat. The sugar will melt and become caramel.
4. Drain the water off the apples and dry with kitchen roll (paper towel). Remove the caramel from the heat and add the apples rounded side down.
5. Put the skillet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until a knife can be easily inserted into the apple.
6. Remove skillet from oven and cover with a sheet of puff pastry slightly larger than the size of the skillet. Tuck the edges of the pie crust into the hot skillet. Be careful not to burn yourself.
7. Return the skillet to the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
8. Remove the Tarte Tatin from the one and set on a rack to cool.
9. Run a knife around the edge of the pie crust to separate it from the skillet. Shake the skillet a few times to loosen the apples and caramel. Place a pie plate over the skillet. Carefully grip the plate and the skillet and flip over so the pie plate is on the bottom and the skillet is on the top.
10. Gently lift the skillet from the plate. Rearrange any apples that have shifted during the inverting and scrape any stubborn caramel off the skillet and onto the Tarte Tatin. If some of the caramel is stuck to the skillet, place back in the oven until it’s spoonable or drizzel-able and spoon or drizzle over the Tarte Tatin on the plate.
11. Serve while still warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream.
Notes:
* Cold Tarte Tatin makes for a delicious breakfast dish.
** Pears, quince, and fruits of a similar hardness can be cooked like apples to make Tarte Tartin.
*** I used my grandma’s old skillet in this recipe, but you can use an oven proof sauté pan.
Related Articles:
1. Rhubarb Tarte Tatin at Tartelette
2. Sausage Tarte Tatin made by Donal Skehan
3. Darina Allen’s Tarte Tatin recipe as published in The Irish Examiner
In an Irish Home 
Sounds good. I am getting some cooking apples during the week, would they work, I wonder?
You know Joan…I think any apples would work just fine because the caramel is deliciously sweet. I’d love to know how you get on…it took me several attempts to get this recipe right. In the end, however, it was so worth it!