Tarte Tatin is a Classic which is attributed to a couple of batty spinster sisters.
The Story Behind the Original Recipe:
Once upon a time, there was 2 spinster sisters who lived in Lamotte-Beuvron, a small rural town in the Loire Valley of France, owned and ran the hotel called l'Hotel Tatin in 1888. The elder sister, Stéphanie, dealt with the kitchen. She was a particularly fine cook but was not the brightest of people. Her specialty was an apple tart, served perfectly crusty, caramelized and which melted in the mouth. One day during the hunting season, during the midday scramble, Stephanie placed her tart in the oven the wrong way round. The pastry and apples were upside-down but, nevertheless, she served this strange dessert without giving it time to cool. The French call this dessert tarte des demoiselles Tatin.
Sweet and Savoury Tatins:
Since 1888, a number of chefs and ordinary cooks have made this recipe their own by swapping the apples for other fruits or vegetables.If the apple tarte Tatin remains the best known of all the upside-down tarts, there is a large number of variations, every single one as delicious the other.
Tatins can be made with
- Pears
- Figs
- Apricots
- and of course bananas
For the savoury Tatins, balsamic vinegar is used to caramelised the vegetables such as
- Shallots
- Cherry tomatoes
- Squash and sweet potatoes.
Banana Tarte Tatin:
Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 50g unsalted butter
- 100g demerara sugar
- 230g sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry -no need to make your own,it won't add to the flavour-
- 6 firm large bananas
Method:
- Preheat the oven 220C/gas 7.
- Lay the pastry on the work top and cut a disc using your round baking tray, make sure you allow 3cm/1 inch more than the mould
- Cut the bananas in half longways
- Melt the butter in an heavy based frying pan, add the sugar, keep stirring until you get a golden caramel. Take off the heat
- Place the bananas in the tart mould, pour the caramel over and cover with the pastry, tuck the edges down the side
- Bake the tarte for 20-25 minutes
- To turn the tarte out, put an upturned, large plate on top of the pastry. Spread your hand across the plate to get a good grip. Quickly flip the pan upside down and then carefully lift it off. The caramelised bananas should now be facing up.
Et voila, let it cool a little and serve, for extra indulgence you could serve this delicious dessert with ice-cream.
Tip: You can use a rectangular baking tray, some recipes advise to use the frying pan and put it directly in the oven, this is a quicker method it works well providing that your frying pan is oven-proof.
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