SCALLOP AND CHORIZO PASTA & BALLYMALOE TARTE TATIN

SCALLOP AND CHORIZO PASTA & BALLYMALOE TARTE TATIN

Ingredients:

1.24kg (2 3/4lb) approx. Golden Delicious, Cox’s Orange Pippin or Bramley Seedling cooking apples

170g (6oz) puff pastry or rich sweet shortcrust pastry or sour cream pastry – we used leftover puff pastry

110g (4oz/1 stick) unsalted butter

225g (8oz/1 cup) castor sugar

A heavy 20.5cm (8inch) tatin mould or copper or stainless steel sauté pan with low sides

Direction:

Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/regulo 7 for puff pastry. For shortcrust – 180ºC/350ºF/regulo 4.

First, roll out the pastry into a round slightly larger than the saucepan. Prick it all over with a fork and chill until needed.

Peel, halve and core the apples. Melt the butter in the saucepan, add the sugar and cook over a medium heat until it turns golden – fudge colour. Put the apple halves in upright, packing them in very tightly side by side. Replace the pan on a low heat and cook until the sugar and juice are a dark caramel colour. Hold your nerve otherwise it will be too pale. Put into a hot oven for approx. 15 minutes.

(We followed Raymond Blanc’s method instead, whereby the sugar is caramelised before putting the apples in. However, it is very important to take it off the heat before it reaches the desired colour as it carries on cooking. Ours went over by just a bit, but was still delicious.)

Cover the apples with the pastry and tuck in the edges. Put the saucepan into the fully preheated oven until the pastry is cooked and the apples are soft-25-30 minutes approx. For puff pastry reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 after 10 minutes.

Take out of the oven and rest for 5-10 minutes or longer if you like. Put a plate over

the top of the saucepan and flip the tart on to a serving plate. (Watch out – this is a rather tricky operation because the hot caramel and juice can ooze out). Matthew as usual ignored by advice and didn’t wait!! Reshape the tart if necessary and serve warm with softly whipped cream.