Most home cooks get nervous about tarte tatin, however it is extremely simple, particularly when using a good quality shop-bought puff pastry. Try it, you'll be amazed at how good it is!
4 large william pears, peeled
90g unsalted butter, cubed
110 g caster sugar
nutmeg for grating
1 sheet shop bought, good quality puff pastry
creme fraiche
Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Whilst the oven is warming up, take the pears, peel, cut in half length-ways and remove the cores.
Place the sugar and butter cubes into a good quality 18 cm saute pan. Ensure that the handle is oven-proof! Place the pears on top of the sugar and butter with the outer sides of the pears facing down.
Now over a moderate to medium heat melt the sugar and butter, and allow to caramelise without burning. Temperature control is key here, too hot and it will burn, not hot enough and it won't caramelise. Once there's a lovely golden brown caramel formed remove from the heat and grate a little fresh nutmeg over the pears (not too much).
Take your pastry (ideally removed from the fridge 10 minutes or so beforehand), roll out to a thickness of about 8 mm and cut a 20 cm diameter circle. Carefully place this over the pears (be careful, they're hot!) and tuck in at the sides.
Place in the top of the oven and cook for 25 minutes.
Now remove from the oven, and before turning out onto a serving plate allow to cool for 3 or 4 minutes. Don't wait too long or the caramel may stick to the pan.
Serve immediately with creme fraiche.
How easy is that?
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