Red Gala Tarte Tatin

With Red Apple Day on June 19, leading culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu Brisbane has released a traditional favourite recipe from their cookbook for Australians wanting to take part by creating a delicious apple themed dessert.

Le Cordon Bleu is world renowned for their culinary excellence as well as their classic French cuisine techniques; a cooking culture known for its use of apples within many traditional dishes.

Yields: 1 x 24cm Tarte

Ingredients
For the caramel:
100g sugar
20ml water

For the filling:
6 x Red Gala apples
50g unsalted butter
25ml Calvados
500g readymade puff pastry

Method
Preheat oven to 200°C (conventional)
Peel and core the apples and cut each apple into 4 even pieces
In a thick bottom fry pan, heat the sugar and water until it becomes a dark caramel
Add the apples and cook until the apples take on the dark caramel colour
Add the unsalted butter and continue to cook until a thick sauce forms in the bottom of the fry pan
Remove the pan from the stove and add the Calvados
In a 24cm round baking dish flood the bottom of the dish with the caramel sauce then arrange the apples evenly in the baking dish

Roll out a sheet of puff pastry 4mm thick and dock the pastry all over with a fork to create small holes-this will prevent the pastry from rising too much whilst baking
Cover the baking dish with the puff pastry and crimp the rim of the baking dish using pastry crimpers or pinching between your thumb and forefinger
Place the baking dish in preheated oven at 200°C and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the pastry is golden in colour and crisp
Remove the baking dish from the oven and allow to cool
Once the tarte has cooled lay a serving plate over the baking dish and carefully invert the tarte onto the serving plate (remember that there will be a lot of liquid caramel in the dish as you turn it out)
Serve with double cream, or vanilla ice cream
Note: Short crust pastry can be used instead of puff pastry