Maybe not everyone will have heard of Tarte Tatin, but in the francophone world it usually means basically a posh Apple Tart, almost an upside down rich apple tart. But with everything nowadays, there are many variations on a theme and a couple of years ago I made an onion one, and also a shallot version.

However, the other day I went to an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in central London to see, not the Crown Jewels but the Cartier Exhibition, most of which I did not covet, I certainly do not go to events that require a tiara and as beautiful as the serpent necklace was, I could not envisage wearing something that had 2,473 diamonds! Apart from anything else, would be just a tad scratchy ( and besides going on the tube wearing it, would not be a good idea)!

I digress, my friend and I had lunch in the members dining room room ( an oasis of calm) where I had what was basically a tomato tart Tatin with rocket salad. And so I decided to make one at home!

For the onion and tomato Tatin it easy to cheat by using ready made pastry but for the Apple version I would seriously recommend that you make your own. Apart from the wonderful juices soaking into a rich buttery pastry, it doesn’t matter if the pastry doesn’t look good, simply because the apples are on top!

I always use an absolute idiot proof recipe for pastry, many many thanks to Simca, it was her that basically said throw it all into a food processor , but when I think about it , when I was teaching in the most dreadful school in Vauxhall London, Blue Band margarine came out with “All in one” method (and I still have the pamphlet ), but back then there were no food processors or Thermomixers, just do it all by hand !

For the pastry (Sweet short pastry)

• 2 cups ( 250grams) Plain flour
• 2 tablespoons of caster sugar ( omit the sugar for savoury dishes)
• 140 grams unsalted butter ( cut into chunks)
• 1teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons Cream beaten with the yolk of an egg
• Put the dry ingredients into a food processor along with the butter and and blend on high for a couple of minutes ( you can rub the butter in by hand ) until it looks like very fine breadcrumbs DO NOT OVER PROCESS!
• With the machine running, slowly pour in the cream/ egg mixture, it will quickly form a ball , which will go Bump Bump ! Switch off. Tip out onto a floured surface and knead gently to incorporate all of the flour. If a tad dry, add a few drops of cream, the dough should be soft but not wet and all of the flour mixed in. The dough can be used straight away but might benefit from being put into a plastic bag and refrigerated for half an hour or so.
• This pastry, omitting the sugar can be used for both the Tomato and onion tart.

To make a Tarte Tatin, preheat the oven to200 c/400f/ gas 6.

Peel and core 6 eating apples ( Note NOT Cooking Apples) and cut them into quarters.

Melt about 100 grams of butter ( I use unsalted) in a heavy pan ( I use a cast iron frying pan, a shallow LeCreuset pan would work well. Add about 100 grams caster sugar and on a medium heat let the sugar melt into the butter and heat gently so that it caramelises, take care not to let it burn. Add the apples and arrange them carefully, as it is an upside down tart, so they will become the top. pack them in tightly. cook over a medium heat for about 15-20 minutes, shaking now and again so that they don’t burn.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface so that it is roughly the size of your pan ( slightly larger) . Place the pastry on top of the apples and tuck in the edges. prick with a fork a few time and bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden.

Remove from the oven, leave to cool for about 10 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the tart and invert it onto a round serving plate/ dish. Serve warm along with ice cream/ cream or crème fraiche. YUMMY.

For a Tomato tart, you will need a quantity of pastry and for this to make life easy you can use ready made. You can make a large one but I like to make individual ones.

Start by making some Confit tomatoes and this will make more than you will need. Preheat the oven to 110C or 90 C fan oven. Arrange a kilo of tomatoes which have been cut in half, cut side up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add some squashed cloves of garlic then pour over 200 mls olive oil and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Cook for about 2 hours. Pack into sterilised jars, along with any juices and the olive oil. Cool and store in the refrigerator.

However, to make life even easier, and especially if you are only going to make a couple of little tarts and therefore a Kilo of tomatoes is too much, simply pore some olive oil ( enough to cover the bottom of the pan) heat until sizzling, add the tomatoes cut in half, cut side down. Reduce heat and cook very very gently until cooked.

Rollout a quantity of pastry and line a tart pan(s) which has been greased. Spread over the pastry a quantity of either Tapenade, or roasted red pepper paste ( both were bought) and top this with the tomatoes. Add a sprinkle of Herbes ’ de Provence, a few sprigs of thyme. Bake at 200 C/ 180 fan for about 15-20 minutes for individual tarted or marginally longer for a large tart.

For the onion tart, simply gently partly cook the onions in some butter ( either shallots or brown skin onions cut in half). In the bottom of the pastry case some onion chutney as a basis for the onions to sit on.Top this with the partially cooked onions and bake as above.

Serve warm or at room temperature with a little green salad.