Niamh Shields burst onto the blogging scene in 2007 and has since snapped up countless accolades for her food writing by The Times, The Telegraph and The Stylist, to name a few. Niamh is passionate about cooking, and when she's not travelling the world collecting culinary tips, she's at home concocting new and interesting meals for friends and family, including her foody fledgling niece. Here, Niamh shares all her know-how for delicious and easy home-cooking.
Parisian tarte tatin
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I’ve just spent a long weekend in Paris, living like a local, in a house with a gorgeous kitchen that can be rented by the night. It was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the wonderful Parisian markets and cook big lunches to share with friends.
Whenever I think of French food I think of sauces and long cooking. I also think of wonderful patisserie and bread. Coq au Vin, Cassoulet, fantastic rotisserie chickens. The one French thing I always think of is the glorious tarte tatin.
Tradition says that the tarte tatin was first created by accident by Stéphanie Tatin at the Hotel Tatin, France in 1898. The hotel was run Stéphanie and her sister Caroline. Stephanie started to make a traditional apple tart one day, but left the apples cooking in butter and sugar a little too long, almost burning them.
She tried to rescue the dish by putting the pastry base on top of the pan of apples, finishing the tart by in the oven and serving it turned upside down, with the caramelised apples facing out. The result was one of Frances favourite dishes, the delicious tarte tatin.
It’s really easy to recreate this at home, even if it takes a little time to bake. All you do is caramelise some sugar, then place the apples on top of it, and the pastry on top of that before baking for an hour. And then, topple it out, and serve it with some crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream – ta da!
A note on the pastry: a chef in Paris told me that he uses a basic shortcrust, so I have used the same here, only I have sweetened it a bit. It is very easy and makes the whole process quicker. Feel free to substitute with all butter puff or shortcrust pastry from the shop too.
Preparation time: 1 hour
Baking time: 1 hour
Equipment: Tart dish – approx 10 inches
Serves 6
Ingredients
For the pastry
250g flour
125g butter, diced and at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 egg
a little water
Tart filling:
6 small sweet apples, peeled, cored and cut in half – in the UK I like Cox apples
100g sugar
100g butter
Method
- Make the pastry by sifting flour with a pinch of salt and icing sugar. Add the butter, and rub in with your fingers until it is the texture of breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and bring together with a knife. If the pastry is not coming together add a little water, but just enough to bind it, it shouldn’t be wet. Shape into a ball and leave covered in the fridge for half an hour.
- Make a caramel by melting the butter and sugar over the hob on a medium heat – preferably in the pan that you will cook the tart in (if it is heatproof).
- When the caramel is golden brown, take it off the heat and put the apples cut side down into it, leaving about an inch of space around the edges.
- Take the pastry from the fridge and roll until it is just larger than the tart dish.
- Cover the apples with the pastry, tucking it in around the edges, and bake it in the oven for 35–40 minutes at 190 deg C.
- Put a plate over the tarte when it has cooled a little, and turn the dish upside down. The tarte tatin should come out (it may need a couple of minutes depending on your dish).
- Serve warm in slices with crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream.
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