A Timeless Treat... the famous Tart Tatin.

These photos make me cringe, I promise to use better ones in the future!

 El classiquo (I just made that up. Who am I not to be able to create new words =)

The timeless Tart Tatin. What is so special about it?

It is like a pizza, made upside down, for the sweet tooth, using puff pastry.

I can be sure when I say, that all the life changing scientific discoveries were not found by defining a problem and then coming up with a solution.

"example". 

Most scientific/technological developments have come from seeing the problem first and then scratching the noggen thinking about what we have in our little heads to fix this.

"example".

We all know the story. Some lady screwed up some apples burning in caramel sauce so she covered it with puff pastry and left it in an oven as she had guests at her hotel.

The problem was caramel burning in a pot, getting the better of some apples that deserved some loyal attention.

The fix came with the blanket of buttery puff pastry.

The win, is for mankind.

I heard about this for years but never thought twice about giving it the time of day in my kitchen.

I first made it from Curtis Stone's cook book he made with Coles. Just from his 2 sentence blurb on the dessert I gave it a crack. I made it for my partner as she was sick and wanted risotto and I wanted something for the both of us. One hour later, a little bit of history wafted through my kitchen.

So back to the original question, what makes this so special?

Simplicity... fruit, caramel, pastry. It is like a holy trinity for that of a pastry chef. Similar to that of an Italian chef with carrots, onions and celery or an Indian cook with corriander, cumin and turmeric.

Blessed are we that in this country we have great quality fruit available all year round. In conjunction with caramel of the simplest form, sugar, water and butter, then glazed over fruit is already a winning combination. But, with the addition of ye old faithful, carbs, to complete the trifecta of a winning ticket. The puff pastry that seperates its layers as it protetcts the fruit poaching in the caramel is then filled and soaked with the caramel and juices of the fruit as it is flipped over to be served.

I know a good thing when I taste it. When I get excited about something, my voice level increases drastically. When I see someone I am fond of, I feel like squeezing them till they pass out. When I taste something I know is a fine piece of work, I want to break a plate over my head and take another mouth!

I get excited very easily.

That and too much testosterone.