A brief history of tartes tatin can be found here. (As a side note, I want to be a culinary historian when I grow up. How cool would that be...for me?)
Traditionally, a tarte tatin is made with apples, but there are skads of recipes on the internet using other fruit. I had a a bunch of plums from the CSA and a sheet of puff pastry to use - and a few hours to kill - so I decided to tackle plum version. I'd already ventured into tarte territory a few weeks prior with a wonderful savory tomato version, so I was ready.
The result was delightful, and a wonderful balance of tart (not tarte) and sweet. I brought to work so I wouldn't eat the entire pan on my own. My coworkers kept going back to the pan to sneak tiny pieces throughout the workday.
(As another side note, I don't care for pie, and this is basically pie, but I love it. Maybe because it's puff pastry instead of pie crust. Except that I love pie crust. But not pie.)
Click through to read on for the recipe.
Click through to read on for the recipe.
Plum Tarte Tatin
Adapted from this recipe, which adapted from a recipe in this book.
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs. plums
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 stick + 1 tbsp. (5 tbsp.) unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar (1/4 c + 2/3 c + whatever is left – math is hard)
1 sheet frozen, all butter puff pastry
Directions
Slice the plums in 1/4” slices. Toss with 1/4 c of the sugar in a wire mesh strainer over a bowl. Let sit for 1 hour. The plums will release their juices. This is an important step, so don’t skip it! Save the juices.
Butter a baking dish that is roughly the same size as the puff pastry. Some puff pastry is rectangular, and some is square. I used a rectangular pan and cut a piece off the width of my square puff pastry and added it to the length. You could also use a circular pan, which is more traditional, but then you’d be throwing away the corners of the puff pastry, and that seems like a waste of perfectly good pastry. Don't you think?
Melt the butter over medium heat in a heavy bottomed pot (I use the Dutch oven). When it begins to foam, add 2/3 c of the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally and watching constantly. When it becomes caramelized (i.e., golden brown), add the plum slices and toss with the caramel. It won’t evenly coat the slices, and it will look messy and you’ll think you did something wrong, but don’t worry, you didn’t.
Simmer over medium-low heat, covered, for 10-15 minutes – without stirring – until the plums are soft and easily pierced with a fork.
Turn off the heat and remove the plums with a slotted spoon, leaving the liquid in the pot. Place plums in the buttered dish and spread evenly across the bottom.
Add the plum juices to the liquid in the pot and turn the heat to medium/high. Stir and cook until the liquid comes together in a thick syrup – it will coat the back of a spoon. Scrape the plummy caramel out of the pot and pour over the plums in the pan, making sure the whole pan is covered.
Place the pan in the fridge for an hour or two until it has cooled. Meanwhile, take the frozen puff pastry out of the freezer and allow to thaw.
Heat the oven to 375F. Place the puff pastry over the cooled plums and caramel. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and bake for 45 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Allow to cool a bit before serving - but not too much, because you want it to be warm. You could flip it upside down on a plate, which is traditional. I left it in the pan as is because:
1. I had already dirtied every dish in my kitchen that evening and didn’t want to dirty another
2. I didn’t have one that fit the whole tarte
3. I waited too long to flip it anyway (don't be like me)
4. The pan I baked it in was pretty cute, so I figured I'd leave it
If you leave it in the pan, place the pieces crust-side down when you serve it. Serve warm with ice cream or a drizzle of heavy cream. Which I did not do. But wish I had.
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