Little beats the perfection of a classic Tarte Tatin. Serve it warm with a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and I'm sold. The culinary technique behind this staple dessert can be applied to many different types of fruit but also works wonders with savory flavours. As long as your filling has a sticky, caramelized consistency and that you top the tart with flaky puff pastry you can't really go wrong.
The only tricky part is to invert the dish once it's cooked. The beauty of a Tarte Tatin comes from the way it is cooked - with the puff pastry tightly nestled on top of the dish- the filling will bubble away while the dough can slowly crisp up without getting soggy. My best advice is not to over-think it when times comes time to invert the dish- simply run a pairing knife around the edges of the tart, top the tart with your platter (or a cutting board) and flip it over in one confident go. If a few sticky filling pieces stay lodged in your cooking vessel, gently free them and arrange on top of your dish.
