Tomato Tarte Tatin

Ingredients

Pastry:

170g cold Westgold Salted butter 

1 1⁄2c plain flour

1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄2 tsp baking powder                 

1⁄2c ice-cold water

Tarte:

600-700g firm but ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Westgold Salted butter
2 cloves garlic
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar

Method

To make the tarte                                   

Preheat the oven to 200°C.                     

Put the tomatoes on their side and cut in half. Leave smaller/cherry tomatoes whole.    

Finely chop the garlic. Remove the thyme leaves from their stalks.               

Heat the butter and olive oil in the frying pan. 

Cook the garlic and thyme for 1 minute. Don’t let the garlic brown. 

Arrange the tomatoes over the base of the frying pan, cut side down. Caution–hot! Ask an adult to help you with this.

The whole base of the pan needs to be covered in tomatoes so squeeze them in tightly. Cook for 4-5 minutes to let the tomatoes colour a little and reduce some of the liquid.                                           

In a small jug, mix the vinegar and sugar and pour over the tomatoes. Let it bubble a little then remove from heat.                                                     

Roll and cut the pastry into a circle slightly larger than the top of the frying pan.       

Place the pastry circle over the tomatoes, lightly tucking it in on the sides.

Use scissors to cut a steam hole in the middle of the pastry.                                                                                         

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. 

Let it stand for 5 minutes in the pan, then put a plate on top and turn upside down to serve. Caution – hot! Ask an adult to help you with this.

There might be very hot liquid coming from the tomatoes so make sure you stand back. 

Notes: 

A tarte tatin is traditionally made from apples caramelised in butter and sugar and baked as an upside- down tarte.

You can use any tomatoes you have. Using different colours or a mixture of sizes will make a beautiful tarte. Cutting them across the core will stop the seeds from falling out. 

You can use a food processor to make the pastry but be careful not to overmix. Put the dry ingredients in the food processor bowl, add the liquid and pulse until the mixture just comes together. Tip onto a floured surface to shape.

Learning how to make flaky pastry (otherwise known as rough puff pastry) is a great skill to master. It is important to keep the pastry cold so use cold butter, ice-cold water and keep your hands off the pastry as much as you can.