Tarte Tatin aux Pommes (Upside down Apple Pie)

 Tarte Tatin sounds like a fancy dessert, but really, it's just an upside down caramel apple tart. I made a simple tart shell using dough called pâte brisée. Instead of filling the shell though, I placed slices of apples that were cooked in a caramel sauce into the mold and then covered them with the tart shell. The tarts then went into the oven to cook the shell. 

You really should eat these treats almost as soon as they come out of the oven. To plate, just flip each mold and the apples will now be on top. If you wait too long, the caramel will harden and it will be difficult to unmold.  If you flip the tart out and let it sit, the crust will get soggy. This has never been a problem at my house because the smell of freshly baking apples always manages to gather the entire family in the kitchen.

Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze Recipe

I have received many requests for the kaffir lime ginger glaze recipe. I keep forgetting to post it.

The story behind this glaze is kind of funny. I had just made a sweet and sour soup and my mother-in-law came into the kitchen to help clean up. She saw the leftover kaffir lime leaves, picked them up and was about to throw them in the trash. Even though we get our kaffir lim leaves from our garden, it felt like a waste. I shrieked and told her, I told her that I was going to use them. She asked me how I planned on using the leaves since we weren't making any more soup. I had to come up with something fast, so I said that I would use them in the glaze for the apricot tarts that were in the oven.

I added a little ginger to the syrup to balance out the citrus-y flavor of the kaffir lime leaves and I incorporated a little cornstarch to the syrup to get a thicker consistency because typically I use fruit jellies as a glaze. It turned out wonderfully.

Blackberry Polenta Tart with a Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze

I was very frustrated yesterday after the memory card of my camera crashed and I wasn't able to show off my beautiful crostata with pecan and blueberry pie filling. All I could rescue was only one photo of the crostata before it went into the oven. So to redeem myself, I'm offering you un cadeau de consolation, a consolation prize with a blackberry polenta tart.

The sweet dough is made with polenta which gives a very crumbly texture. I filled the tart with blackberry preserves, topped them with fresh blackberries and finished them with a kaffir lime ginger glaze. Everything was gone, it was delicious. Mission accomplished!

Crostata with Pecan and Blueberry Pie Filling

* The memory card of my camera just crashed and that's the only picture I could recover of the crostata right before getting in the oven.

A crostata is a dessert that is filled with jams or fruits and its sweet crust is folded inward at each edge. It gives the tart a more artisanal, which means rustic in French, and free-form look than other regular pies.

I made the dough with polenta to give it a more crumbly texture and flavored it with star anise. I used fresh ginger and Meyer lemon for the filling in addition to the blueberries.