SHALLOT TARTE TATIN

Hey folks, welcome back to How I Cook+, this week we’ve got a stone cold classic.

Cheers,

B x

A Wobbly Cheese Tart at The Golden Tooth

My dear friends Matthew and Charlie of Papi fame have upped sticks, moved on from that brilliant site with the red bathroom and onto bigger and better things. They’ve scooped up a pub a stone’s throw from Newington Green and christened it The Golden Tooth, top tier stuff. The menu at new restaurant has echoes of Papi, with plenty of nostalgia and cheek, Matty Scott’s signature bold, produce-led cooking is singing with its sharp focus on sustainability and technique. The wobbly cheese custard tart with perfectly blanched asparagus and wild garlic was perfect. A chicken and red prawn stargazy pie followed with sharp salad and crunchy chips. lt’s all served alongside interesting wine from the brilliant Charlie Carr. It’s a class act and they’re only just getting started. Get booked in!

I’ve made so, so many of these in my kitchen career and they hit every single time.

There are 3 main hurdles to jump when making a really good tarte tatin, sweet or savoury. Simultaneously cooking the shallots (or fruit) perfectly, baking the pastry to golden puffed perfection and making sure your sweet and sour caramel is just the right texture. It’s much easier to master than you might think, read the tips below, watch the video a few times, gather the five or six ingredients you need and give it a red hot crack. You got this.

NB: It’s a smart move to use your pan to guide the disc you cut out of your pastry before you start cooking. Get it cut to size and then stick it back in the fridge.

THE CARAMEL

Caramel, something that strikes fear into the heart of the home cook. Fear not, caramels are not hard to make! Following a few easy steps you can nail your caramel every single time. If you’re making a direct caramel (just sugar, no water) just tip your sugar into a dry pan and melt it, don’t overthink it, just melt it, shaking the pan now and then until everything is homogenous. Easy as that. Without the presence of water, the caramel will not crystallise, so don’t stress. Once the caramel is where you want it (a deep amber brown), drop in the butter and swirl it in to halt the cooking and cool things down. Finish with the vinegar and bring to the boil. Season with salt and that’s it - job done. Ready for shallots…

THE SHALLOTS

The key steps in making sure the shallots are perfectly cooked and have bags of flavour when they come out of the oven happen before and after you make the caramel. Start by hard-searing the shallots, building some bitterness on the cut side that will balance out that sweet and sour caramel and really crank up the savoury notes in the final dish. This also kick-starts the cooking process nicely. Once your caramel is made, drop the shallots in, packing them in tight before letting them tick over in the simmering caramel for at least five minutes. This ensures that they’re jammy and tender when they come out of the oven.

THE BUILD & BAKE

The secret here is tetris-ing those cooked shallots into your pan, packing in as many as you can to ensure a tightly packed, aesthetically pleasing tatin. Really ram them in there! Allow your tart to chill out for 5 minutes before you try and slap the pastry on. When the pastry hits the shallots, use a little knife or spoon to really tuck the edges in and further press everything together into one, tight unit. Pierce plenty of holes across the top of the tatin to allow steam to escape and ensure the pastry doesn’t balloon up, leaving all the shallots behind. Season with salt and slide into the oven.

If you want to get ahead on the tatin, allow the shallots to cool completely before adding the pastry disc and sticking the fridge. You can bake straight from the fridge, just add 10 minutes to the total time in the oven.

THE DISMOUNT

A crucial moment in the tarte tatin process is the dismount. Whatever you do, don’t try to whip the tart out immediately, you want to let it hang out for 5 minutes. This allow the tart to set a little, the shallots adhering to the pastry, but so long that the caramel fuses the tart to the pan. The secret is really confidence, and if you have them, long sleeves. Grab a plate bigger than your pan, stick it on top, grit your teeth and flip it over in one swift, smooth motion. If a few of the shallots stick to the pan don’t worry, just fish them out and slot them back into the tart, no one will ever know. I’ve done this so many times…

Finish with deliciously salty cheese and chives. I used a Gorgonzola dolce for my latest outing, but pecorino, stilton or sharp cheddar would all be stunning.