I’m crazy about tamarillos, but since I’ve tried them cooked, I’m coming up with all manner of ways of using them… Their high glutamate content particularly suits the roasting or caramelisation process, which makes me think of tart tatins. I’m not crazy about the apple version, which can be very sweet, but I have made plum and tomato versions quite often. Tamarillos seem like the perfect variation, especially as their tartness lends itself to the process.
(Rather infuriatingly, I discovered that my beloved tart tatin pan does’t work on a halogen – oh the inhumanity – and after I spent 30 minutes cleaning if for the camera! Please excuse the frying pan…). I know it looks a bit of a mess too, but trust me, something are meant to be eaten with your eyes shut… Ingredients: 8 tamarillos, peeled, and cut into sections (I took two large sections from each fruit) 100g of unsalted butter 100g of golden granulated or caster sugar Method:
- Bring the butter and sugar to the heat in a heavy bottomed pan (with a handle that can go in the oven), or a tart tatin pan
- When the mixture has begun to colour, carefully place your tamarillo slices into the mixture, and caramelise them over a low heat. Turn them very gently, as they run the risk of falling apart
- Once they have achieve a lightly roasted colour, and when you can see there is little liquid in the pan, place your chilled disc of puff pastry over the fruit, tucking down the edges into the edge of the pan. If the fruit is caramelised, but there’s still a lot of liquid, drain some off and reserve it for later. At this point the dish needs to go straight into the oven, or the butter in the pastry will begin to melt. Do NOT stick your hands in the sugar mixture, it will burn you very badly!
- Put in the oven for around 25 minutes, or until you can see that your pastry sheet has risen fully
- Remember that the pan handle will be hot when you open the oven (those of us with halogen counters get into the habit of picking up our pans without checking, because the handles never heat up!)
- Remove the pan, and allow it to sit for around five minutes, allowing the sugar syrup to thicken a little. When it looks a little more set, invert it onto a suitable plating dish – be bold, be quick – do not pussyfoot around – the liquid will be hot.
- If you had any of the liquid reserved from earlier, drizzle it over the tart.
This process will work for any fruit – if using plums, I usually add just a little cinnamon to the dish, you can add vanilla to apples, or a little cardamon for something more exotic.
