Pear Tarte Tartin
Pear Tarte Tartin
Derek Lau
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Medium
Ingredients
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3-4 medium pears, peeled and cored, cut into quarters
80g unsalted butter, diced into cubes
80g caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, halved and scraped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt flakes
½ tsp mixed spice
1/3 cup walnuts, crushed
1 sheet butter puff pastry
Method
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1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees.
2. In a thick bottom fry pan (I use a cast iron skillet), scatter the butter on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the sugar on top. Add the vanilla bean and then arrange the pears on top (you can choose which side you want facing up, but I prefer the cut side facing up). Finally, sprinkle the ginger, cinnamon, salt and mixed spice on top. Then follow with the walnuts.
3. Place the butter puff pastry on top of the pears and make sure to tuck the edges in. Place the whole pan onto the stove and heat on a medium heat. The butter will start to melt, and spoon this on top of the pastry so it is all covered.
4. Keep cooking this until the butter and sugar caramelises and is golden. Then place straight into the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes until the top is golden.
5. Remove, place a plate on top of the pan and invert. Be careful as everything will be hot, including the caramel. Spoon on any leftover caramel on top of the tarte tartin.
6. Serve immediately with cream or ice-cream.