Strawberry tarte tatins

I’ve been watching some episodes of “Brothers and Sisters” and have to say I feel like I could become addicted to it – actually, the idea of getting all the DVDs to watch the show from the start has crossed my mind once or twice already. :)
Even though I’ve been enjoying the show, it makes me quite emotional – so thank you, “Brothers and Sisters”, for making me almost cry every time I listen to “Never say never”, including when I’m driving to work. :S

There’s someone else I’d like to thank today: Donna Hay, for introducing me to strawberry tarte tatins – what a delicious dessert. And now I’m not being ironic. :)

Strawberry tarte tatins
from Donna Hay magazine

2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
¼ cup (50g) caster sugar
1 ½ tablespoons water
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
butter, for greasing
500g strawberries, hulled and sliced in half if too large
300g all butter puff pastry, thawed*
whipped cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F. Place the butter, sugar, water and vanilla (seeds and bean) in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Stop stirring, bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes, remove from the heat and discard the vanilla bean.
Lightly grease four 10cm round pie dishes with the butter. Place the strawberries in the dishes and pour over the caramel.
Place the pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll out to 5mm thick. Cut four 11cm rounds from the pastry and place on top of the strawberries. Place the dishes on a baking tray and bake the tarts for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden. Turn the tarts out onto plates and top with whipped cream to serve – be careful not to get burned by the piping hot juices when unmolding the tarts.

* inspired by my friend Ana Elisa, I made her take on Flo Braker’s Pretty Darn Quick Puff Pastry (from this book) and it worked wonderfully; half her recipe is enough for the four tarte tatins

Serves 4