It is always a pleasure to eat a traditional dish in its original home. Tarte Tatin, on the menu at Grand Hotel du Lion d’Or in Romorantin-Lanthenay in France is a must, as the dish, more properly described as La tarte des demoiselles Tatin, was invented in the Sologne.
According to Marie-Christine Clément, Solognotte food historian and writer, as well as patronne of the hotel, everyone in the Sologne claims to have the authentic recipe, direct from the demoiselles Tatin themselves, who ran a hotel and restaurant in the Sologne in the 1880s.
It is more likely, she believes, to have been a local method, since there exist similar traditional recipes for pears and pêches de vigne, the small, sweet, purple-fleshed peaches which ripen at the same time as the grape harvest.
Her husband, chef Didier Clément, serves the tart with a red quince syrup. The recipe really came to fame when Louis Vaudable put this homely dish on the menu of his Paris restaurant, Maxim’s, no less, in the 1930s.
It can be tempting to take liberties with traditional recipes, and I have certainly made many versions of tarte Tatin, with pears, quinces, plums, mango, even chicory, onions and oxtail.
But why improve upon perfection? Today’s recipe is the authentic tarte Tatin. The French do not have Bramleys, the variety generally used in English apple pies and tarts and it is, therefore, customary to make the French recipe with dessert apples; Granny Smiths are as good as any, or you can use Golden Delicious. These same apples can be used in the classic English apple pie recipe.
The third sweet tart recipe is based on a medieval English recipe, from the time when French was the language of the aristocracy and of the majority of manuscripts, including cookery.
Over the years, I have served this dessert at many gala dinners, including one I was invited to cook at the British Embassy residence in Paris. I have also added a couple of savoury tart recipes, the Alsace onion tart and the Spanish coca, which has a very easy-to-make dough and turns out not unlike a pizza.
With a warm, fragrant home-baked tart or pie for a first course or a dessert, you can entertain royally, and the rest of your meal can be as simple as you like.
La tarte renversée
This is an upside-down apple tart named after les demoiselles Tatin.
Serves 6 to 8
125g unsalted butter, softened, plus 50g extra for the caramel
250g plain flour
1 egg yolk
25g caster sugar, plus extra for the caramel
Up to 75ml iced water
8 apples, depending on size, peeled and quartered
Make a well in the flour on a work top, and in it put the butter, egg and sugar. Gradually work the ingredients together and add just sufficient water to bind the pastry. Do not overwork it, and if you prefer, make the pastry in a food processor.
Melt about 50g unsalted butter in a heavy frying pan that you can put in the oven, or a deep cake tin you can put on the stove and sprinkle in about the same quantity of sugar.
Let the sugar dissolve and then arrange the apples in the pan, packing them tightly, as they will shrink during cooking.
Roll out the pastry to slightly larger than the pan. Lay the pastry over the apples, tucking it down inside the pan.
Put in a preheated oven at 180˚C to 200˚C, gas mark 4-6, for about 40 minutes. Check that the apples are nicely golden and caramelised, and carefully remove the pan from the oven. Place a serving plate over the pie and turn it over so that the apples are now facing up.
Serve hot or warm.
Spanish coca
Serves 8
500g plain flour
2 to 3 tsp baking powder
225ml water
225ml olive oil
6 large red peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded
Gozo salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Mix the flour, baking powder, water and olive oil in a food processor to a fairly sticky dough. With greased hands, pat on to a greased baking sheet, and flatten.
Top with well-seasoned, roasted, peeled julienne of red pepper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200˚C/400˚F, gas mark 6, and serve warm. Because of the texture of the dough, the coca is very easy to cut up, even with pastry cutters, for canapés.
Cook’s note: The coca can be garnished with olives and topped with other than red pepper, such as aubergines or courgettes, or a mixture of different peppers and tomatoes.
Classic apple pie
In Yorkshire and Lancashire, a piece of cheese is as common an accompaniment to apple pie as cream or custard. Wensleydale and Lancashire are particular favourites.
Serves 6
25g unsalted butter
400g plain or sweet short crust pastry
50g ground almonds
500g apples, peeled, quartered, peeled, cored and sliced
2 cloves
50g golden granulated sugar
Butter a 25-centimetre pie plate and reserve the rest of the butter. Divide the pastry in two and roll out half of it to line the pie plate.
Sprinkle the base of the pie with ground almonds, to absorb the juices. Arrange the fruit on top, tuck in the cloves, dab on the remaining butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Moisten the rim of the pie base. Roll out the second piece of pastry and cover the pie with it. Seal and trim the edges. Decorate the top with pastry trimmings if you wish.
Make a hole for the steam to escape, and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200˚C, gas mark 6, for 12 minutes, then turn down to 180˚C, gas mark 4, for another 30 minutes or so. Serve hot, warm or cold.
The perfect onion tart
Serves 6 to 8
400g shortcrust pastry
85g butter
4 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tbsp flour
300ml cream or full cream milk
Gozo salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
4 eggs
Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan and in it gently fry the onions until soft, translucent and just beginning to turn colour. This will not be hurried. Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle on the flour, and gradually stir in the cream. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously, and cook for five minutes. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and grind in a little fresh nutmeg. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, away from the heat.
Line a 25-centimetre quiche or pie dish with pastry and pour in the filling. Place the dish on a baking sheet in a pre-heated oven, 200˚C, gas mark 6, for about 40 minutes until the top is golden brown. The tart can be served at any temperature, but I prefer it warm.
Medieval Tart de Bry
When serving this medieval saffron, cheese and honey tart for really special occasions, I use a little gold leaf to decorate the top.
Serves 4 to 6
pinch of saffron filaments
350g short pastry
250g soft mild Brie or similar cheese, rind removed
250g cream cheese, ricotta or mascarpone – see recipe
3 tbsp honey
75g Demerara sugar
4-5 tbsp milk
3 eggs
Soak the saffron for 20 minutes in a tablespoon of hot water. Roll out the pastry, and line a 25-centimetre rimmed pie plate.
Use the trimmings to decorate the rim with pastry leaves or a plait, if liked. Bake blind for 15-20 minutes.
Put the Brie in a bowl and mix thoroughly with the soft cheese. For a rich tart, use mascarpone, for something less rich, use ricotta. The ideal is probably a mixture of both. Melt the honey with the milk. Mix the honey and saffron liquid with the cheese, and beat in the eggs.
Pour the mixture carefully into the pie dish and bake in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 5, 190˚C/375˚F, for 15 minutes, and then turn it down to gas mark 3, 170˚C/325˚F, for a further 20 minutes or so. Serve warm or cold, dusted with a little icing sugar, and with or without cream.