Dahlia Tarté Tartin

Dahlia & Fig Tarté Tartin

Back in the day, when I was just a wee slip of a girl & between what my dad would describe as ‘proper’ jobs I worked for few months cooking in a small bistro behind Harrods and one of the staples of the menu was a Tarté Tartin and I’ve been rather partial to it ever since.

Usually made with apple I decided to adapt the recipe to use up some figs and given the fact that I rarely pass up an opportunity to shoe horn edible flowers into every dish I added some dahlia petals to this.  

Dahlias have a robust chicory like flavour which works exceptionally well with the sweet caramel figs.

Ingredients

I packed all butter puff pastry (you can make your own but if you have that much spare time then it would be much better spent giving me a hand with some weeding!).

5 large ripe figs

85 grms of flower sugar (or caster if you haven’t got any)

80 grms of unsalted butter

1 large organic dahlia head

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºF/160ºC/Gas 6

Roll out the puff pastry to approximately 3mm thick and prick with a fork all over to ensure it rises evenly.

Put a large skillet on the stove (or a pan which has an oven proof handle and a thick bottom) and melt the butter. Pour off a tablespoon or so of melted butter into a cup and put to one side.

Add the sugar to the pan and over a medium heat cook the sugar and butter until it caramelises to a sticky brown consistency. It should be custard sort of consistency. Too runny and you will have a soggy bottom. Allow to cool for a few minutes.

Cut the figs in half and arrange them with the dahlia petals in an attractive manner face down into the caramel. Remember that the tart will be served upside down so the bottom needs to be attractive rather than the top. Use the remaining tablespoon of melted butter to brush the tops of the figs.

Cut out a pastry circle to the same size as the skillet and tuck the edges of the pastry firmly down the sides of the dish. Use a knife to make a couple of slits to let the steam escape.

Cook in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes until the puff pastry is risen and a lovely golden colour.

Take it out of the oven and allow to sit for about 25 minutes and then carefully invert onto a plate and serve warm perhaps with a good quality vanilla ice cream.

Dahlia Tarté Tartin