I have to confess, I have never done any puff pastry and probably never will.

I know, I know, a lot of you are now so disappointed as you think that I am perfect and can do anything…. You are wrong.

Puff pastry is too fussy to make, only a pastry chef will say that’s easy, and I am not a pastry chef, sorry.

I am also sorry for not being perfect, there are a lot of things I have never made, like a pavlova or that amazing sauce that my father makes every time we organize a barbecue in Nice with harissa, spring onion and a few spices… I have never made waffles nor prawn curry and God knows how much I love both !!!

Regarding my non-perfection I also needed to say that I can be lazy sometimes, yes, yes.

I haven’t written anything for a few weeks now.

I watched a movie one evening and I met my friends for drinks, and spent a whole evening reading in my bed.

Confessing it on my blog oblige me to take my own responsibilities, see the reality and tell myself that I should work harder. Cooking for my clients, working part time in a members club days or evening shifts, going to wine tasting and food safety training is not enough !

Voilà, it’s said, I feel better now.

On my ‘back to school’ (I know I am one month late but I told you, I am not perfect) program there’s also a beetroot tarte tatin. Again something I had never done before, even less with beetroot.

With these proportions you can make one big or two small. I opted for the small ones.

‘Beetroot tarte tatin’ serves 2

Ingredients :

• 1 ready to roll puff pastry
• 4 little beetroot cooked
• 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 75 g of caster sugar
• 40g of butter
• A few thyme sprigs
• Salt and pepper
• Goat cheese or creamy cheese

 

Method :

1.Put the sugar in a frying pan and over a medium heat, stir until it dissolves. Add a pinch of salt, butter and balsamic vinegar, and keep stirring. The mixture will turn foamy, but keep stirring on the heat until it has gone a dark brown colour – but don’t let the sugar burn.

2. Add honey and thyme leaves, take off the heat and stir.

3. Cut the beetroots either in large slices or very thin with a mandolin, it will give you a different effect, I chose the very thin slices. Place them in the pan with the sugar and vinegar. Leave them for a few minutes. Put the beetroot slices on a round pie baking tin or the two small, one by one and working in a spiral into the centre. Use all of them to the top of the tin and add salt and pepper on each layer.

4. Preheat the oven at 160/180°C, gas mark 4.

5. Put your puff pastry on the top and cut your dough around 5 cm larger than your tin. Tuck the edges down and put it in the oven for around 30min or till the pastry is golden.

6. With a plate that is larger than the baking tin, upturn the plate over it and holding the two together, flip the lot over. Leave it for 30 seconds for the caramel to mostly fall from the pan onto the plate, then remove the plate.

7. Sprinkle goat cheese on top. Serve hot.