Surprise Tatin

I decided to make this yesterday in an effort to ward off some of the chill and damp that was happening along with the weather. It takes a bit of time to put together, but none of the prep is especially difficult and the results are very tasty. I was quite taken with the semi-roasted cherry tomatoes... I can see using them in a few other applications as well. I recommend using store bought puff pastry to streamline the prep time for this, unless you happen to have some already made and in the freezer. Also, a neat trick for cutting soft cheeses like goat cheese is to use a thin, supple wire, or if you don't have one of those, dental floss. Just be sure to not use a flavoured dental floss, like mint, as it can transfer some of that flavour to your cheese. I once had the unfortunate mishap of using flavoured toothpicks to hold together some stacked, baked appetizers... yeah. Not as awesome as it could have been. ^_^ If you already know you  aren't a fan of a strong goat cheese flavour, substitute the aged goat cheese for a younger one, but I'd encourage you to give the aged cheese a shot with this recipe, it's a nice counterpoint to the caramel and oregano.

Also, Yotam says it's 'Surprise Tatin' because no one really expects potatoes in a tart. I didn't - traditionally the filling of a tatin is apples and sweet rather than potatoes and savoury, but it works quite well.

As usual, the ingredients are as listed in the book and the written description incorporates my observations and alterations. 

Surprise Tatin

(p. 22, Plenty)

Serves 4

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes 

2 tbsp olive, plus extra for drizzling over the tomatoes and for the pan

salt and black pepper

1 lb new potatoes (skins on)

1 large onion, thinly sliced

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp butter

3 oregano sprigs

5 oz aged goat cheese, sliced

1 puff pastry sheet 

Assemble your ingredients, making sure you take the puff pastry out of the freezer so it has a chance to come up closer to room temperature before you need to roll it out:

Preheat the oven to 275F. Halve the cherry tomatoes and place them skin side down on a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper if you want to make clean up a bit easier). Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with some salt and freshly ground pepper. 

Place in the oven and let dry for ~45 minutes. 

As the tomatoes enjoy the oven, cook the potatoes in boiling, salted water until they can be easily pierced with a knife, ~25 minutes. 

When they are finished cooking, drain in a colander and let them cool until you can handle them comfortably. While the potatoes are cooling, saute the onion in a bit of olive oil with some salt for roughly 10 minutes, or until the onions start to turn a golden brown colour. I decided I wanted mine fairly well coloured, and so continued to cook them beyond this photo.

When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, trim a bit off the top and bottom of the potatoes and then cut them into 1-inch thick disks. I was using the tiny bagged potatoes, so largely all I had to do was cut them in half. I cut the tiny bit off the ends for a while and then figured it was an unnecessary step and opted out of it. 

Once all of the vegetables have been prepared, brush a 9-inch cake pan (Yotam uses a round one, I used my square Pyrex one as I don't have a round pan at the moment) with olive oil. Yotam advises lining the bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment cut to fit - I opted to put just a touch more oil in the bottom of the pan instead and it worked out well for me. 

In a small pan, melt the butter over high heat and then add the sugar. Using a wooden spoon, stir constantly until the butter stops foaming and you end up with a reasonably dark caramel. I noticed the caramel colour coming on pretty quickly and actually took the pan off heat to finish making it which prevented it from burning. 

If you do end up letting the caramel get too dark and it smells or tastes burnt, you will probably need to start over, so mind your pan. Mine was a little broken - not completely smooth or perfectly incorporated, but it tasted fine. Going to have to do some reading to figure out why that happened. 

Once the caramel is made, pour it while still quite warm into the prepared cake pan. I waited a bit too long and my caramel hardened in one place and wouldn't spread when I tilted the pan, but that wasn't too much of a problem as it went to a liquid state when it baked in the oven a bit later and spread out then. So no worries if yours looks like mine did with the oregano sprinkled over it:

Next, lay the potato slices together over the caramel, fitting them together closely, cut side down. I missed the part about laying them cut side down, oops...

Layer the onions on top of the potatoes and press them into any gaps. 

Add the tomatoes and try to spread them evenly over the onions.

Then slice the cheese thinly and place it as evenly as possible over the tomatoes. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of that step. Once that has been done, your tart is assembled and just requires the pastry lid.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface until you get a piece that is about an inch greater in diameter than the pan you are using. You want the pastry to still be fairly cold while you do this; if it starts to get too warm the layers will melt together and it won't rise and become flaky as it bakes. Lay the pastry over the pan and then tuck the edges of the pastry down around the filling in the pan, as far down as the potatoes if you can get it there. At this stage you can chill the tart in the fridge for 24 hours, or go ahead and bake it.

Bake at 400F for 25 minutes, and then reduce the temperature to 350F until the pastry is golden and thoroughly cooked, approximately 15 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let sit for 2 minutes. 

Place an inverted serving plate or platter over the pan and quickly and carefully flip them over. The tart should drop right down onto the plate. There will be liquid caramel in the pan that can get out and burn if you aren't careful. It caught me off guard, but luckily most of it got onto the stovetop instead of my skin. Serve hot or warm. 

The picture in the book is slightly prettier with its inverted potatoes, but this was just fine, and I imagine it tasted about the same. Which is to say, *really* good. I'd definitely make this again. Might be interesting to use a flavoured goat cheese (chives and pepper could be awesome) in some future iteration.