MMMMMmmm Tarte Tatin (with pears!)

 We're going over to Nick and Sara's for dinner tonight and we're making dessert. We decided on a tarte tatin. AND we're making it together. This is very unusual as Lloyd tends to be the savoury cook and sometimes I do desserts. Also (and probably the main reason) our kitchen is minute!

INGREDIENTS
• 500g puff pastry ( or 2 x puff pastry sheets)
• 3 nashi pears
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, halved
lengthways, seeds
scraped out
• 50g butter, cubed

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 190˚C

cut the pears into nice crescent shapes.

measure out the sugar

cut a vanilla pod lengthways and add the seeds to the sugar.

Put the ovenproof pan on a medium heat and add the sugar, vanilla seeds and pod. Let the sugar dissolve and cook until the mixture forms a light caramel. Just please remember never ever to touch or 

 taste hot caramel, as it can burn really badly.

 

Once the caramel looks and smells delicious – it should be a lovely chestnut brown – add your pears.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until they start to soften and you get a 'toffee apple' vibe happening, Add the cubed butter. Then we covered ours with some tinfoil and let cook for another 10 minutes or so until everything looked delicious.

 

 Lay the pastry over the top. Quickly and carefully tuck the pastry down right into the edges – it’s best to use a wooden spoon so you don’t touch the caramel.

Bake the tarte Tatin for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden, with crispy caramelly pieces bubbling up from under the edges. Take it out of the oven. To make it look like a tarte Tatin you need to turn it out. Wait a few minutes so it isn't so runny. Be very careful, everything is burny hot!

the moment of truth... will it work....

yes!!

Put it to one side for a few minutes, so the caramel can cool down, then divide it up and serve
with a spoonful of crème fraîche or ice cream.

ok, I  have to admit that Lloyd and I have had a sneaky mop up of the caramel in the pan with a piece of pear - and OMG!  Most. Delicious. Thing. Ever.