Plum and Gin Tart
 
Nothing can really rival this French dessert for deliciousness. It was in a beautiful Parisian restaurant that I first sampled a classic French tarte tatin. Caramelised fresh fruits and crispy puff pastry all together in one mouth watering dish, washed down with creme Anglaise or ice cream is definitely my food heaven. Our tarte tatin recipe uses plums cooked in a gin caramel, for a British twist on my all time favourite French dessert.
 
Ingredients:
Serves 4
 
100g Caster Sugar
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 Start Anise
50ml Good Quality Gin 6 Ripe Plums
1 Handful Of Lemon Thyme 320g Ready Rolled Puff Pastry 20g Melted Unsalted Butter
Cinnamon Sugar:
1tbsp Caster Sugar 1tbsp Dried Cinnamon
 
Here’s how:
 
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan.
Start by making the caramel for the Tarte Tatin. Place the sugar into a non-stick, metal handled frying pan on a low heat with the spices and leave to form a caramel. It should take around 15 minutes.
Once the caramel is golden and clear pour in the gin and leave to dissolve. Meanwhile, prepare the plums by cutting around the middle, twisting and removing the stone.
Place the plums flesh side down into the dark caramel and sprinkle over the lemon thyme.
Next, using a plate of a similar size to the frying pan as a guide, cut out a circle of the puff pastry. Dust the pastry with a little flour if needed to avoid it sticking to the work surface.
Using your hands or a rolling pin, carefully put the round piece of pastry on top of the plums in the pan. Then, with the back of a spoon tuck the pastry in around the edges of the plums.
Brush the top of the pastry with the melted butter using a pastry brush and mix 1tbsp of dried cinnamon and 1tbsp of caster sugar together in a small bowl, before sprinkling over the top of the pastry. We keep ready made cinnamon sugar in a large jar in our kitchen so we can quickly add flavour to our dishes.
Cut a small opening in the middle of the pastry to allow the steam to escape during the baking process.
Bake the Tarte Tatin in the middle of a preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the pastry is a nice golden brown colour.
Once baked remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a plate. Do so by placing the plate on top of the frying pan and quickly flipping over.
Cut out a generous slice of the Tarte Tatin and serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or creme Anglaise.
 
Recipe by Peter Sidwell