The perfect autumn pud - Apple and Thai Lime Tarte Tatin
We love autumn fruits almost as much as we love a good pudding, so we thought it was high time we combined the two. Windfall apples in the Glut orchard were the inspiration for this traditional dish, but in quirky Glut style, Head Gardener Ned has flavoured it with Thai lime leaves. The result is a rich, luxurious pudding, with dense, sweet apples and a zesty citrus finish.
Feeds 8
75-100g butter
Granulated sugar
1 fresh Thai lime leaf
5 good eating apples (we used Braeburn) peeled, cored and halved (or quartered if very large)
I sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
You will need a deep ovenproof frying pan.
Heat the oven to 200/180 fan. Cut out a large circle of pastry 2cm bigger than the size of your pan.
Tear the lime leaf into small pieces. Place it into a small food processor and add 8 tablespoons of sugar. Blitz to a powder.
Squidge the cold butter evenly across the base of the pan and scatter it with the lime leaf sugar. Add extra sugar liberally over the top until the butter is completely covered. Carefully place the apple slices in circles over the sugar so that the pieces are touching but not overlapping.
Place on the hob and cook for 15-20 minutes until you see golden caramel bubbling up between the apples. Don’t peek, don’t stir, and definitely don’t be tempted to remove from the heat before glorious caramelisation has been achieved.
Turn off the heat and place the pastry circle over the apples. Tuck it in all the way around, so that no fruit is showing. Place in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove and set aside for ten minutes to cool slightly.
Now for the tricky bit. Place a large plate over the pastry and very, very carefully (remembering the caramel will be extremely hot) invert the tart onto the plate. The tart may be quite slippery, so take great care to avoid being splashed by the hot sauce.
