Tarte Tatin

Ruth used a bit of a hybrid between Felicity Cloake's perfect Tarte Tatin and Raymond Blanc's recipe from the telegraph to make a spectacular tarte tatin for eight in Mum's kitchen in August 2013. Ruth made the tarte in Mum's white 10.5" ceramic flan dish and sped things up a bit by using the combination oven to cook the apples. She also didn't have any spare apple in stage four to pack between the halves, which gave the tarte a slightly looser appearance. The caramel was a bit of a nightmare: it crystalized on the first two attempts. On the third attempt she used a bit more water and Mum's small milk pan rather than a large-based frying pan and it worked perfectly.

She used:

1 jus-rol puff sheet (320g)

200g caster sugar

80ml water

50g salted butter

8 Braeburn (could use Cox) apples

6 Granny Smith apples

20g melted butter

Extra caster for sprinkling

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to 2mm thick and prick it all over with a fork. Transfer to a baking tray and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to prevent shrinkage while cooking. Cut out a 11" circle, prick with a fork and chill again.

2. Peel, halve and core the apples, then put in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours. (Ruth didn't actually have time to do this, so she left them to dry in the sun for an hour on kitchen paper)

2.5 Pre-heat the (combination) oven to 190C.

3. Put the water and sugar in a small milk pan and heat gently till the sugar is completely dissolved. Turn up the heat and boil off the water until the mixture starts to turn to caramel. At this point turn the hob down to almost nothing and cook till the caramel is golden brown. Take off the heat and stir in the butter until well combined. Pour the caramel into the flan dish.

4 Arrange the apple-halves upright around the edge of the dish. In the middle, sit half an apple, flat-side up, and top with another half apple. If there are any remaining apples, cut them into slices and wedge them into the empty spaces, tightly packing as many pieces as you can into the tin. Brush the melted butter over the apples and sprinkle the extra caster sugar over the top.

5. Cook the apples (without the pastry lid) in a combination oven at 190 degrees at 600W of microwave power for 10 to 15 minutes.

(If you don't have a combination oven cook it at 190 in a regular oven for 35 minutes)

7. Let it cool for a few minutes next to an open window. Place a plate, slightly larger than the pan, on top and then, very carefully, using oven gloves, invert the tart on to the plate. Best served warm, with crème fraîche. Cream and vanilla ice cream are also very good.