I thought that making a tarte tatin would be tricky, I also thought that tackling it on a week night, when life is more manic than usual was slightly insane, but the whole thing was rather easy and turned out so well.

Its so exciting when you turn it out on the board and you realise that its all going to hold together and actually looks rather impressive.

I must say that the children were not overly impressed with the shallots, but Hubby & I loved it. Looking forward to enjoying it as a Saturday lunch in the garden, in the sun with a large glass of wine. Just need some sunshine now, so looking forward to Spring.

Rosie has requested a tomato version that she saw Lorraine Pascale make on her show, so thats next on my list to do.

Boun appetito

Serves 4 – 5
600g shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
25g butter
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons demerara or soft light brown sugar
4 sprigs of thyme
375g sheet puff pastry
100g – 140g goat’s cheese, slice into rounds (please do it more thinly that Hubby did, as you will see in the above photograph, they look like door steps!)

Heat oven to 200c, 180c fan, gas 6.

Put the shallots into a heatproof bowl and pour over boiling water to cover. Leave for 10 minutes, then drain and peel. This is such a great tip, I have spent far to many hours peeling these tricky little blighters, will be doing this from now on, it works a treat.

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. Add the shallots and fry gently for 10 – 15 minutes until softened and lightly browned. Stir in the vinegar and sugar with leaves from 2 thyme sprigs for a few minutes until caramelised. Turn off the heat and season.

Tear remaining thyme sprigs into a few pieces and scatter over the base of a 22cm ovenproof shallow pan, cake or tart tin without a loose base. Tip in the shallots with all the sticky juices. Roll out the pastry until it’s big enough to cut out a roughly 26cm circle. Lift the pastry circle onto the shallots, then tuck the edges down the inside of the pan. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until pastry is golden.

Leave tart for 5 minutes to settle, then turn out of the tin. Dot with rounds of goat’s cheese and slice into wedges.

I served mine with a lovely side salad and fresh, warm, homemade bread. See recipes below for bread.

http://dianastaveley.blogspot.com/2011/02/chorizo-and-thyme-fougasse.html

http://dianastaveley.blogspot.com/2011/01/focaccia.html