Apple Tart Tartain

This is a simple version of the French upside-down tart. It’s easy and delicious and you can make it in 30 minutes.

Ingredients
4 gala apples
50g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Rind from 1 lemon
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
1 sheet pre-prepared puff pastry

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (medium hot). Remove a pastry sheet from the freezer and allow to thaw.

Cut the apples into quarters, remove the cores and then cut into wedges. Place into an oven proof frypan with knobs of butter and sprinkle with the brown sugar. Grate the rind of a lemon and sprinkle over the apples. Add the juice of half a lemon, vanilla essence, and cook the apples for 10 minutes over high heat, shaking to mix the butter and sugar to make a syrup.

Cover the apples with the pastry sheet, cut to size, tucking the pastry down around the apples. Bake in the oven until the pastry is crisp, about 20 minutes.

Turn the tart out upside-down onto a serving plate. Serve wedges of the tart with pouring cream.

Serves 6.

Variations
Use granny smith apples with more sugar for a tarter version. Just use pears and brown sugar for a caramel version. You could also use saffron and vanilla with the pears for an exotic flavour, or even maple syrup.