Tarte Tatin
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cup of flour (250g)
- 1/2 cup of butter for the crust (125g)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 egg yolk
- some water
- 2/3 cup of butter for the caramel (150g)
- 3/4 cup of granulated sugar (170g)
- 8 to 10 apples (Gala apples are the best)
Instructions
- Prepare the pie crust by mixing flour, butter, salt, yolk, and water. Mix with your hands until you get a nice ball. I don't recommend using a food processor. The pie crust taste better when made by hand. The processed dough is more chewy.
- In a deep round cake pan, place the butter and sugar.
- Place the pan on the stove.
- With a wooden spatula, mix butter and sugar. Do not leave the stove unattended.
- Make a brown caramel. Make sure that it does not get black as it would give a bitter taste to the pie.
- Peel, core and cut apples into quarters.
- Arrange the apple quarters on the cooled caramel.
- If there are some remaining apples, cut into smaller pieces and arrange on top.
- Cover the apples with the dough (1/8 inch or 4 mm thick), with a diameter slightly greater than the pan.
- Fold the dough edges inside the pan.
- Bake in hot oven (375F or 190C) until the crust is golden brown. The crust is almost done when you can see the caramel rising around it
- After cooking, cover the pan with a larger dish and unmould the tarte tatin while it is still hot.
Bon appétit!
Spain
Last month, we went to Spain for a week. It was nice to warm up our old bones to the sun before returning to Calgary and get ready for the frigid winter. We had a lot of sun and a lot of fun. I even had a tan for a few days after our return.
I was really impressed by this country unknown to me even though it is only one hour away by car from where I grew up. I had to live in Canada before getting an opportunity to visit Madrid. Life is strange...
We drank a lot of Sangria and I had to find a recipe as soon as we landed back in Calgary.
The curse is over
The curse is over. I finally managed to cook a Tarte Tatin without alerting the fire department. It tastes very good too!
Crèmes Brûlées
Tonight, Melissa and I participated for the first time in the Scarboro dinner club. Scarboro is the name of our Calgarian neighborhood. Couples get together once a month and while hosts prepare an entrée (a great BBQ salmon tonight) guests bring salad, appetizer, and dessert.
Couples rotates every month and you never dine with the same persons twice for the duration of the program. I was impressed by all well travelled all the individuals at the table were. We talked about Egypt, Germany, Tanzania, Russia, Poland, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, France, Panama, and many others country that I don't recall.
I was tasked with the dessert and not wanting to repeat my springform pan experience, I decided to got with another burnt dessert. Here is the recipe for your enjoyment.
For four servings:
- 1½ cup of heavy whipping cream
- 1 tea spoon of pure vanilla extract
- ½ tea spoon of orange extract
- 4 egg yolks
- ¼ cup of granulated sugar
- ¼ cup of brown sugar
- Bring the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and orange extract to a boil. Let it rest
- Beat the egg yolks with the granulated sugar
- Pour the whipping cream into the egg yolks and mix well
- Pour the custard in four individual dishes
- Put the individual dishes in a pan and pour water between the dishes so they barely float in the pan
- Cook for 30 to 40 minutes at 350F until custard is set
- Let rest at room temperature for four hours
- Sprinkle with brown sugar and broil (using the oven) for a couple of minutes. Make sure you keep you eyes while it broils or you going to burn more than the cream! In my case, I keep the fire extinguisher at hand but this may not be necessary in your case.
Serve cold.
Springform pans are evil
Last Saturday, Melissa and I had guests and I wanted to impression them with my highly developed culinary skills that come from a long French lineage and a so exquisite French tradition.
Anyway, in addition of the Bœuf Bourguignon, and the Gratin Dauphinois, I decided to cook two Tartes Tatin.
Having sold most of our pans in a garage sale last month, I went to buy some new ones on Saturday afternoon but since I was not sure which one to use and given my tardiness and available choices, I picked two very nice springform pans.
I started to melt sugar and butter on the stove and noticed a small leak at the bottom of the pan. This was not a big deal, the stove is actually easy to clean.
I peeled and sliced twenty apples and stacked them in the pans. I then covered the pans with fresh made crust and shove them in the oven at 400F.
There was more caramel leaking at the bottom and some smoke. This was not a big deal. the oven is actually easy to clean.
The smoke detector went off in the foyer. This was not a big deal, the fire alarm is connected to the burglar alarm and it was not a big deal to silence it on the wall panel.
Six o'clock arrives and one of my guest calls to tell me he is in the neighborhood looking for the house.
I hear sirens in the distance. This was not a big deal, must be some firefighters late for tea.
It turned out that the fire alarm is in fact monitored and the alarm company called the fire department. My guests arrived on one end of the street while the three fire trucks (a full box in their jargon) arrived at the other end of the street. Everybody stopped at our house and for some reasons, our guests were hesitant to come in.
The two firefighters were not so hesitant and they kindly checked that everything was ok before going on their merry way.
Our kind landlord was surprised to receive a phone call from the Alarm Agency.
No tarte tatin that evening but we had a nice chocolate cake brought by one of the guest and I need to buy the proper pans. Springform pans are evil...