Salted Caramel Pancakes

Apologies for my absence from the airwaves recently, being a finalist is more difficult and time-consuming than I had imagined, thankfully I made it out without killing myself or anyone else, and retaining my sanity.

This is a fantastic dish, and though it tastes luxuriously decadent it is woefully simple. I'm absurdly proud of having made this without burning myself which is a tragically common occurrence when making caramel. You can adjust the quantities of salt if you wish for it to be more or less salty, I use french fleur-de-sel for this dish, which is traditional in France. Fleur-de-sel is harvested in Guérande, in Brittany, and it is formed when moving water evaporates leaving salt crystals with a characteristic floral shape. If you can't find these then sea salt flakes can be used.

Start by whisking all your pancake ingredients together in a large glass bowl, cover it with a tea towel and leave it to rest while you make your caramel sauce.

For the sauce, place the soft brown sugar in a saucepan and heat over a high heat stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar has melted to a pale brown amber, continue to heat, stirring until you have reached your desired darkness, the darker the caramel the more bitter it will be, take care that the sugar doesn't burn. Add the cubed butter and stir it into the sugar until it melts.

The sugar and the butter will start to separate, use a whisk to combine them until smooth and bubbling, remove from the heat and add the heavy cream, it will bubble ferociously, return the pan to the heat and whisk it until smooth. Some of the sugar may resolidify, heat it for a few minutes on high until it has all melted and is smooth. Leave it to cool then add the salt and mix. When it has cooled further pour it into a sauce boat.

Cook your pancakes, heat a little vegetable oil in a large heavy-based frying pan and add a ladleful of the pancake batter, cook it for a few minutes on each side, flipping it with a spatula.

Serve the pancakes folded and topped with lashings of the salted caramel sauce.

ingredients:

for the pancakes
100g plain flour
1 large egg
300ml milk
sunflower oil for frying

for the sauce
100g soft muscovado sugar
45g cubed unsalted butter
100ml single cream
1/2 tbsp fleur de sel de Guérande

Tarte Tatin

I'm not usually a fan of attempting french baking at home, I find it far too fiddly and complicated, and, given that my parents live in France, I am fortunately able to leave the delicacy of patisserie to the experts. I have little desire to whip egg whites to make macarons, when there is a man down the road who I can pay to do much the same thing, with a whole lot more finesse.

Tarte tatin is an upside down apple tart, in which the apples are slow cooked soaking in caramel, with a layer of crisp pastry above. The proportions of this recipe are relatively tricky, and it is challenging to get the tart with not too much caramel, but with enough apple and pastry. A trick I always follow, to get the right amount of pastry, and to get it thin enough, is to make a half batch of pastry, this ensures that you won't have left over pastry, and that it will be thin enough. You will also need to decide how dark you want your caramel, my parents love everything bitter, so I made my caramel very dark, if you prefer your caramel slightly paler, reduce the cooking time of the caramel.

Start by melting in a pan, the butter with the caster sugar, while this is melting together peel, core and halve your apples, and put them in a bowl with lemon zest and juice, and a little sugar, leave them to steep, by which time your caramel should be starting to brown. Turn off the heat under the caramel and place the apples in the pan round side down. Use a spoon to cover the apples in the caramel and put the pan in the oven.

Next make your pastry, and roll it out very thinly, the pastry should be more of a base for the apples, and not the main event, so fir this reason I use a simple unsweetened shortcrust pastry. Remove the apples from the oven and cover them gently with the pastry, working fast to not melt the butter, push the pastry into between the apples and bake it in a medium hot oven until the pastry is crisp and golden, and cooked through.

Turn the tart out onto a serving dish and serve when cooled.

Ingredients

For the Filling
6 Golden Delicious apples cored, peeled and halved
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
pinch salt

For the Pastry
110g plain flour
50g butter
pinch salt