Recipe: Jock Zonfrillo’s Golden Apple Tarte Tatin “Isn’t That Hard To Make”

Jock Zonfrillo’s recipe for apple tarte tatin is a wee bit fancy, but rustic enough to charm – just like the man himself was.

From his posthumously published cookbook, Recipes To Remember, this easy spin on the French classic starts with apples cooked in buttery caramel infused with vanilla, star anise, a pinch of salt and just a crack of black pepper – enough to make people wonder about the secret ingredient.

A round of puff pastry is tucked over the fruit like a blanket before baking until crisp, golden and puffed. Apple juice (cold-pressed and cloudy if you can get it) is added to leftover caramel and reduced to a glossy sauce. At Christmas, Zonfrillo suggests slipping chunks of pudding between the apples for a festive twist.

“I promise it’s not that hard to make,” he writes. “I even bought the pastry from the supermarket to make it simpler.”

Apple Tarte Tatin

Ingredients

5–8 pink lady apples
150g unsalted butter
1 cup (200g) raw sugar
Vanilla pod, seeds scraped and pods roughly chopped
Whole star anise
Generous pinch of salt flakes
1½ tsp black peppercorns, crushed 1 sheet puff pastry
¼ cup (60ml) apple juice (from apple trimmings or store-bought, see note)
Vanilla ice-cream, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

Peel the apples, then cut in half vertically. Trim the tops and tails to create even-sized, centre-cut apple slices and use a melon baller to remove the core.

If you’re making your own apple juice, juice the scraps of the apples and reserve for the caramel sauce.

Place an ovenproof 20cm-diameter saucepan with 6cm sides over medium–high heat. You need these sides to be at a 9-degree angle, a high-edged normal frying pan won’t give you the edge you need.

To make the caramel sauce, add the butter; once it begins to melt, add sugar, vanilla, star anise, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until golden brown then remove from heat.

Pour half of the caramel into another pan, then arrange the apple halves around the ovenproof pan, packing them in tightly so they completely cover the base of the pan.

Trim your puff pastry into a 24cm circle, then place on top of the apples and tuck the excess down the sides of the pan with a knife. Use a sharp knife to score a few holes into the pastry, then put into the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until the pastry is deeply golden.

Meanwhile, add the apple juice to the remaining caramel. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until the caramel is deeply golden, thick and glossy. Strain through a fine sieve into a jug.

When the tarte is cooked, place a large plate, upside down, over the saucepan. Quickly and carefully flip the saucepan and plate over as one to turn the tarte onto the plate, and serve with vanilla ice-cream and the jug of caramel sauce.

Note: If using store-bought apple juice, opt for cold-pressed, cloudy apple juice. And at Christmas time, I jam Christmas pudding in between the apple halves before I put the pastry on.

This is an edited extract of Recipes To Remember by Jock Zonfrillo, published by Simon & Schuster. RRP $55.

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