Maple Pear Tarte Tatin

What comes with living in a small town in Central Queensland, I couldn't get any maple syrup. So I used what I had and made it with Golden Syrup instead. Still just as good, in my humble opinion.

The only tarte tatin I've made previously was a savoury one so I've been looking forward to trying out this popular dessert. Pears are so beautiful at the moment, so I'm trying to make all the lovely pear dishes throughout the book. I'm pretty sure I've only got one left to go...

After making the simple sugar and syrup glaze, I added my sliced pear and let them cook for a little while in the sauce pan. I don't have a few small pans that go from stove top to oven, so when the pear was done I transferred them to two small pie dishes. I couldn't get a block of puff pastry to roll out, instead I made it thick by using two layers of already rolled puff on the top of the pastry, finally brushing them in some leftover egg yolk that I had from a previous recipe.

Bake until golden.

It was so good and so so simple, I think these might become a staple in this house. Keeping my eye out for Maple Syrup too....

Cherry Tomato Tarte Tatin

Normally Tarte Tatin is made as a dessert by stewing fruit in a caramel of sugar and butter before topping with pastry and setting in the oven. I guess it's still authentic as tomatoes are fruit, but this is definitely not a dessert dish.

It's actually supposed to be made with yellow cherry tomatoes too, but be stuffed if I could find any yellow cherry tomatoes anywhere around here. I know I'm growing some, but the play is about an inch tall, so won't be getting any fruit from it for a little while yet.

I haven't made a tarte tatin before, so was a bit apprehensive about how it would turn out. I also don't have a small oven proof frypan, so had to improvise.

Once the tomatoes were cooked in the vinegar and sugar mixture, I transferred them to a pie dish and topped with puff before popping them into an oven for the pastry to rise and become golden and crisp.

  

Still, I'm quite please with how it tasted. The vinegar naturalized the acidity of the tomatoes beautifully. The puff didn't completely puff, but I used a cheap brand, so I can't really complain all that much. The crispy bits contrasted really well with the soft gooey twice cooked tomatoes. 

Would make a fantastic entree course.