Tarte Tatin

The apple harvest is not good this year so all the more reason to make the best use the of the ones we do have. There's nothing like the crunch and flavour of a good Cox's Orange Pippin and that's what I've used in this classic Tarte Tatin which is another case of the simplest things often being the best. Just four ingredients - sugar, butter, apples and puff pastry and you end up with a delicious pud. Cox's are not overly sweet so they balance the sweetness of the caramel perfectly and when they cook they soften but don't turn to mush. Mush is good for some things but not for Tarte Tatin. The story goes that this tart was invented by the Tatin sisters in France. One of the sisters burnt some apples so they quickly covered it in pastry and popped it in the oven to cook. The resulting dessert was served to diners in their hotel restaurant and everyone loved it - hence the Tarte Tatin was born.
It's a forgiving tart, you don't have to be too precise with the pastry, however rustic it looks it's still great. You can change the fruit to pears, pineapple, banana or mango for delicious variations.
The main requirement is the right dish to cook it in, I used a shallow round Le Creuset dish which is ideal for making the caramel on the hob as well as baking the tart. If you don't have one you could use a frying pan suitable for oven use or make make the caramel in a pan then pour it into a good quality tart tin or shallow baking tin (not lose bottomed or you'll end up with a very sticky oven to clean).

Makes one 23cm tart
Serves 6
Takes about 1 hour

5 small Cox's apples, cored, peeled and halved
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
100g caster sugar
50g butter
320g pack ready-rolled puff pastry

1 Coat the apple halves in lemon juice (if using) and set aside. Heat the oven to 200C, fan 180C, Gas 6. Place the caster sugar in a shallow 23cm diameter flameproof, ovenproof dish or pan. Add 3 tbsp water and heat over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat, bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 mins until it turns into a golden caramel.
2 As soon as it turns a rich golden colour remove from the heat and add the apples. Turn to coat in the caramel them turn them all round-side down. Dot with pieces of butter. Place the sheet of pastry over the top, quickly trim with scissors allowing a few centimetres overhang. Roughly tuck the pastry in around the apples, taking care not to touch the caramel as it will hot. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until the pastry is golden and crisp.
3 Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the pastry then carefully turn the tart out onto a plate, taking care as the caramel will be hot. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cream.

Sausage, Courgette & Leek Tart with Cheese Pastry

We're still gaily chomping through the courgettes from our allotment (well some of us a little more gaily than others), although I don't think there'll be many more now - hurray says hubby! We've eaten them every which way - stir-fried in garlic butter, mixed with pesto, in soup, in pilau, in curry etc etc and.... in this sausage tart. Cheese pastry really adds to the overall flavour of the tart, you can make it with bought shortcrust if you don't want to make your own but I'd add a sprinkling of Cheddar to the filling instead. I used the pastry trimmings to make some cheese straws sprinkled with a few pumpkin and sunflower seeds before baking - mmm, they were pretty delicious straight from the oven and didn't last long.  I found this enamel tin in a local hardware shop - a bargain I thought at just £1.99 - and perfect for a chunky, rustic tart like this.

Makes one 23cm tart
Serves 4-6
Takes about 1 hour plus 30 mins to chill the pastry

Cheese Pastry:
200g plain flour
Large pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and freshly ground pepper
100g butter
75g mature Cheddar, finely grated
1 egg, beaten
Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil or rapeseed oil
4 good quality pork sausages
1 leek, sliced
1 medium courgette, halved lengthways and sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
2 eggs
150ml pot single cream

1 To make the pastry, place the flour in a bowl. Add the cayenne pepper and season with salt and pepper. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs then stir in the cheese. Mix the egg with 1 teaspoon cold water, add to the bowl and mix to form a dough, adding another teaspoon of water if the dough seems dry. Knead lightly then wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 mins.

2 While the pastry is chilling, heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the sausages for 10 mins. Push the sausages to one side of the pan, add the leek and courgette to the other side and cook for a further 10 mins until the sausages are cooked and the leeks and courgette are tender. Cut the sausages into chunky slices.

3 Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use to line a 23cm tart tin. Trim off the excess and re-roll trimmings for cheese straws or biscuits. Line the pastry with a sheet of baking paper and top with ceramic baking beans or dried beans and bake in the oven for 10 mins. Remove the paper and beans and cook for a further 5 mins.

4 Place the leeks, courgette and sausage in the pastry case with the cherry tomatoes. Beat the eggs with the cream, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and pour over the filling. Bake for 20 minutes until golden and just set.

Banoffee Tarts

I could eat dulche de leche (rich gooey, sticky, toffee sauce) in spoonfuls straight from the jar or tin - it's my idea of heaven. And with bananas it's a winning combination, for me anyway. So why is banoffee pie a rare treat in our house when I love it so much? Well, my hubby has something to do with it. He HATES bananas with a PASSION! In fact if I eat a banana he recoils in horror and looks at me as though I've been rolling in dog poo. My girls were never banana lovers either but they've taught themselves to like them - they followed the if-you-eat-something-everyday-for-20-days-you'll-grow-to-like-it rule, and it worked. In fact, younger daughter Ellie made these tarts for me as I've been rushing to meet a recipe book deadline. She polished off quite a few with her friend Charlie who tried to get a whole one in his mouth, but didn't quite meet the challenge.
Sainsbury's sell chilled gingerbread dough and I thought it would make a great banoffee pie base. It was a tad dry and difficult to roll out as it kept cracking so in the end we rolled it into smallish balls and rolled out small circles for each tart. Once baked though it was nice and crisp and had a good flavour.

Makes 12 tarts
Takes about 25 mins plus cooling

350g Sainsbury's gingerbread dough block
12 tsp dulche de leche sauce (such as Merchant Gourmet) or half a 397g can Carnation Caramel
1 small banana, sliced
150ml pot double cream or whipping cream
1 small chocolate Flake, crumbled

1 Take the gingerbread dough out of the fridge 20 minutes before you want to use it. Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the gingerbread dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out 12 x 8cm rounds using a cutter and use to line a 12 hole bun tin. Any gingerbread trimmings can be re-rolled and used to make biscuits. Bake in the oven for 8-10 mins until crisp. Leave to cool.

2 Place a teaspoon of dulche de leche in each gingerbread tart case and top with a slice of banana. Whip the cream until just thick enough to form soft peaks, then place a spoonful on top of each tart and sprinkle with crumbled Flake. Chill until ready to serve, they'll keep a good few hours in the fridge if you want to make them in advance.