I’m currently obsessed with making pastries. It probably doesn’t hurt that Chris bought me a stand mixer a couple of years ago and I’m finally using it on a weekly basis to make my crusts, doughs, and batters. Who knew it was so easy? I was flipping through either Bon Appétit or Food & Wine recently and saw a picture of a gorgeous fruit tart tatin and I started to wonder, what’s the benefit of cooking a pastry upside down?
It turns out, one huge advantage is that you get to control how the insides of the tart is cooked, or I guess I should say, the top of the tart. Unlike traditional tarts where the crust is par-baked first and then the filling is added and baked again, the tart tatin filling is cooked first and therefore, you have much more control how you want the filling to be and there’s opportunity to caramelize the ingredients. Knowing that I can control the temperature and cooking method of the filling, I wanted to make a shallot tart tatin. Shallots are almost smaller onions but milder in taste and almost sweeter. And they taste so amazing when caramelized. And that’s exactly what I did.
Shallot Tart Tatin
Ingredients
- Crust
- 145g all purpose flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 3 tablespoons ice cold water
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/2 cup Parmesan, shredded
- Filling
- 12 shallots, cleaned and halved in the center
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan, shredded
- Salt
- Pepper
- Optional, for serving
- Burrata
- Arugula
- Créme fraîche
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 400F.
- Step 2 To make the crust, combine flour, salt, and mustard powder in a stand mixer or food processor and add butter. Mix quickly so that the ingredients just start to combine together (do not over process!).
- Step 3 Add the Parmesan and water and mix for roughly 30 seconds for the dough to form and come together.
- Step 4 Shape the dough into a circle, wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before use.
- Step 5 While dough is resting, prepare filling by adding oil and butter to a 10″ cast iron skillet over medium low heat.
- Step 6 Once skillet is hot, place shallots onto pan and cook until browned.
- Step 7 Add garlic and parsley, stir in with shallots. Cook for about two minutes and remove from heat.
- Step 8 Generously sprinkle flour on the work surface and roll out dough roughly into a 11-12″ diameter circle. Use a fork and poke holes into the dough all over.
- Step 9 Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top of shallot mixture and top with the rolled out dough.
- Step 10 Tuck the edges of the dough around the insides of the skillet.
- Step 11 Place skillet into oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
- Step 12 Rest for 5-10 minutes before carefully flipping the tart onto a plate.
- Step 13 Optional: top with créme fraîche, buratta, and arugula and serve.
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