Chestnut and shallot tarte tatin

Here comes a dish that can be a serious contender to a nut roast when celebrating a vegetarian Christmas or any other winter fest. There are small shallots and chestnuts balsamic glazed on a tarte tatin accompanied by some dried cranberries, which make such a wonderful seasonal dish together.

I found the recipe in this article: Our 10 best roast dinner centrepiece recipes and it's The not nut roast: Chestnut and shallot tarte tatin by Rosie Reynolds. Once I made the tarte tatin, I absolutely loved it!

The only devious task in this recipe is prepping 500 g of small shallots, which can take a while. Otherwise this is quite an easy recipe for a tarte tatin, as long as the turning over bit goes well.

I'm not going to repeat the recipe here, as the perfect instructions are already in that Guardian article. I would really warmly recommend you to try this dish, it's something different for a change. What do you think of this recipe?

Your VegHog

Pear tarte tatin

I thought that a tarte tatin is a great dish to be served as an Easter dessert, and I decided to make mine with pears this time. I followed Gordon Ramsay's recipe, but downscaled it a bit to fit better my cake tin (Ø 20cm). This is how I made mine.

4-5 pears (Green Williams pears)

50g caster sugar

60g butter

1 star anise

2 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

1tbsp brandy

300g puff pastry

Peel and halve the pears. Heat the sugar, butter, star anise, cardamom pods and cinnamon stick in a pan at high heat. Let the butter bubble, and stir until it gets toffee colour. Add in the pear halves and cook them for about 10 minutes at lower heat. Stir in the brandy once the pears have cooked.

Remove the star anise, cardamom pods and cinnamon stick from the pan. Brush a cake tin with some of the caramelised liquid. Place the pears in there with the round side down and pour the rest of the caramel liquid on the top. Place the rolled out puff pastry on the top and press it down along the edges.

Bake at 180C for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 160C and bake for further 15 minutes until the pastry is crispy and golden brown. Let the tarte rest for 10 minutes and then carefully turn it upside down onto a serving plate. This can be tricky because there is a lot of caramelised liquid.

Brandy cream

If you want to serve the pear tarte tatin with some brandy cream like I did, follow these instructions.

You need the following ingredients:

300ml whipping cream

2tbsp icing sugar

2tbsp brandy

Whip the cream and icing sugar for a few minutes and quickly stir in the brandy once the cream is firm enough. Serve on the side of the pear tarte tatin.

Happy Easter baking!

Your VegHog

Mini leek and new potato tarte tatin

I like savoury upside down pies a lot and this is one of my most recent creations. I think this is a very suitable dish for September as I used mini leeks and new potatoes cooked in fondant potato style.

I think it was easy to make, because there is no pastry making involved. This is how I made this tart.

Ingredients

320g puff pastry sheet

8-10 mini leeks

10-12 small new potatoes

A few sprigs of thyme

1tbsp vegetable stock powder

50g butter

1tsp salt

2tbsp sugar

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Prepare about 2dl vegetable stock. Cut the new potatoes in half. Heat little butter in a saucepan at moderate heat. Place the potatoes into the saucepan and let them fry for a couple of minutes without moving them. Then pour the vegetable stock into the saucepan and add some thyme. Let the potatoes simmer under the lid until almost cooked. Just remember to make sure that the pan isn't too hot and the potatoes won't burn.

Heat butter in another pan and gently fry the leeks in there for a few minutes. Add the salt and sugar and heat it all for further couple of minutes. Brush a cake tin with some of this butter, salt and sugar mix from the leek pan.

Place the leeks into the bottom of the cake tin and also pour the rest of the butter on them. Then add the potatoes on the top of them and some more thyme. Finally put the puff pastry sheet into the tin and press it down to the edges.

Bake the tart at 180C for about 30 minutes. After baking carefully turn it upside down and enjoy it warm.

Happy savoury baking moments!

Your VegHog