Nectarine Tarte Tatin

I bought nectarines intending to make a crumble with them and some plums but I used the plums making sauce for duck which meant I needed to rethink my dessert options. Then I found a recipe for tarte tatin which we happened to have all the ingredients in stock for.

The original recipe I found served one but I doubled the quantities and this recipe makes a generous sized tart for 2.

Ingredients: 

(for pastry)

6 tbsp flour (plain)

40g butter

1 egg

For the filling:

4 tsp butter

4 tbsp brown sugar

4 nectarines (halved, stones removed)

ginger- the original recipe called for a 5cm piece but that seemed a little excessive so we just grated a small piece about 2cm worth.

Firstly prepare your pastry. Put your flour butter and egg into a large bowl. The original recipe instructions were for making it in a food processor but I don't have one so I did it by hand. Combine your ingredients with a wooden spoon till they start to stick together and then start rubbing it together with your fingers. When it forms a dough give it a good squeeze and form into a ball. Cling film it and put it into the fridge for about ten minutes or until you're ready to use it. When you're ready to use it, roll it out into a circular shape until its nice and thin (about 1 cm maybe, you don't want it too thick for baking.)

Then we begin the prep for the filling. If you have a handy kitchen assistant (like a lovely other half perhaps) you could get them to half and destone your nectarines while you prep the caramel. Melt the butter over a medium heat (this should only take a couple of minutes) then stir in your sugar until your mixture is dark brown and the sugar has dissolved. Add the ginger and give it a stir. After a few seconds place your nectarines in the pan with the cut side down. Leave them to cook without stirring them. They should only take about five minutes to cook but you can check by give them a prod with your spatula or whatever. Here the recipe said to put the pastry into the pan and take the whole thing into the oven but I transferred the fruit into a spring form cake tin, poured the remaining caramel over, then covered them all with the pastry. Pinch the edges all the way round to seal it then bake in the oven at about 190C for about 15-20 minutes or until your pastry is golden brown. Enjoy it with whipped or pouring cream.
I was pleasantly surprised with how well this came out as tarte tatin can be a bit fussy but it got very positive reviews from my lovely assistant too and its definitely something I would make again.