Tarte tatin | Press

After the summer months, barbecues and meals on the terrace, fall heralds a return to the kitchen. This is the perfect time to prepare colorful, comforting and… sweet dishes. Each week, a pastry chef gives us the recipe for his favorite dessert of the moment. Éric Champagne, new pastry chef at the ITHQ restaurant, reveals a recipe he particularly likes: the tarte tatin.

Karyne Duplessis Piché
Special collaboration

As far back as pastry chef Eric Champagne can remember, his grandmother Carmen used to bake him a tarte tatin. According to him, there is no more comforting dessert than this gastronomic classic, especially during apple season.

Newly behind the stoves of the restaurant of the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ) in Montreal, the pastry chef has the mandate to showcase local products. He therefore incorporated local ingredients such as Gaspé fleur de sel and Cap-Tourmente hazelnuts into the traditional recipe, created by the Tatin sisters at the end of the 19th century.^e century.

Hazelnut-flavored puff pastry, homemade praline and whipped ganache, the long procedure can make you dizzy. But the pastry chef is reassuring: you can easily substitute steps that are difficult to perform and ingredients that are too expensive. For example, you can replace the homemade puff pastry with a commercial product. Ditto for the praline. Lack of time to make the whipped ganache? You can accompany the pie with ice cream. “It will also be very good! », Says Éric Champagne.

The essential element of the tarte tatin is the caramel. According to the experienced pastry chef, this step is the most complex to perform. “You have to be careful, wait a little bit before turning the pie over and put on heavy gloves to make sure you don’t get burned,” he says.

He nevertheless assures us that, for gourmets, this dessert is well worth the work.

Makes 12 tarts or 2 large pies

Ingredients for the quick puff pastry *

• 350g all-purpose flour
• 100 g of ground hazelnuts (Cap-Tourmente or other)
• 454 g unsalted butter
• 30 g of white sugar
• 6 g of salt
• 100 g cold water
• 40 g of 35% cream
• 40 g of apple sauce

* Can be replaced with a commercial puff pastry

Ingredients for Honeycrisp Apple Topping

• 10 Honeycrisp apples
• 250 g of white sugar
• 13 g of Cirka Quebec whiskey
• Juice of one lemon

Ingredients for the hazelnut praline *

• 60 g of white sugar
• 20 g of water
• 240 g roasted hazelnuts
• 30 g unsalted butter
• A pinch of Gaspé fleur de sel
• 100 g grapeseed oil

* Praline can also be purchased

Ingredients for the whipped hazelnut and mascarpone praline ganache *

• 180 g of 35% cream
• 100 g of hazelnut praline
• 20 g of honey
• 260 g of white chocolate drops
• 100 g of mascarpone
• 400 g of 35% cold cream
• 40 g of Cirka Quebec whiskey
• A pinch of Gaspé fleur de sel

* The whipped ganache can be replaced by ice cream

Preparation for homemade puff pastry

• 1. Cut the cold butter into cubes.
• 2. In a food processor, with the hook or in a bowl, combine the ingredients, without mixing too much. The pieces of butter should be visible, which will allow the puff pastry to develop during cooking.
• 3. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 45 minutes.
• 4. When the time is up, with a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle shape (25 cm x 60 cm).
• 5. With a brush, remove the excess flour from the dough and fold the two ends towards the center. Fold the dough in half.
• 6. Rotate the rectangle of dough a quarter turn and repeat this action four times (no need to wait between turns).

Preparation for the tarte tatin

• 1. Peel and cut the apples into large cubes.
• 2. Pour in the lemon juice and wrap well.
• 3. Put the sugar in a saucepan.
• 4. Dry melt over medium heat with a wooden spoon. Be careful, it’s hot.
• 5. When the sugar takes on a caramel color, deglaze with the whiskey, then pour into the bottom of the molds.
• 6. Place the apples on the caramel.
• 7. Preheat the oven to 375 ° F.
• 8. Roll out the dough to 3 mm thickness, then cut to the size of the molds.
• 9. Spread the dough over the apples and bake for 25 minutes for the tarts, 40 minutes for large formats.
• 10. When out of the oven, carefully remove excess juice, gently tilting the pies on their sides to drain excess liquid.
• 11. Wait 15 minutes before turning them over.

Chef’s extras (to be made the day before) for the homemade praline

• 1. Preheat the oven to 275 ° F.
• 2. Roast the nuts on a baking sheet for 15 minutes.
• 3. In a saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil.
• 4. Add the nuts and mix with a wooden spoon over low heat.
• 5. Mix until the nuts are coated with a sanding (sugar). The hazelnuts will slowly but surely caramelize.
• 6. Once the desired caramel color is obtained, remove from the heat and add the cold butter with the fleur de sel.
• 7. When the hazelnuts are cool, put the mixture in a food processor and add the grapeseed oil when everything is running. The finished preparation will be quite liquid.
• 8. Keep the praline at room temperature to maintain good fluidity.

The chef’s extras (to be made the day before) for the whipped hazelnut and mascarpone praline ganache

• 1. In a saucepan, heat the first part of the 35% cream with the hazelnut praline.
• 2. Add honey and fleur de sel.
• 3. In a bowl, mix the white chocolate pastilles and the mascarpone. To book.
• 4. Once the cream mixture boils, pour over the chocolate and mascarpone.
• 5. Using a foot mixer, create an emulsion and mix well.
• 6. Add, in a stream, the second part of cold cream with the whiskey. Make the whole homogeneous using a foot mixer.
• 7. Cover with plastic wrap in contact with the cream and let rest in the refrigerator for 12 hours before whipping.
• 8. The next day, whip the preparation like whipped cream and decorate the tart tatin. Add, if desired, a dash of sour apple or hazelnut and fleur de sel caramel tiles.