This recipe comes from the fantastic Ms. marmites AKA Kerstin Rogers cookbook "Supperclub"
Serves 4-6
Juice of 2 lemons
1kg (2lb 3oz)/about 8–10 eating apples (such as Cox,Russet or Braeburn)
125–175g (4–6oz) unsalted butter, slightly softened
125–175g (4–6oz) caster sugar
4–6 star anise
200g (7oz) puff pastry, rolled to a disc the same dimensions as your frying pan
Crème fraîche ice cream, to serve
Squeeze both lemons into a large bowl. Peel and core the apples, then halve them and put in the bowl of lemon juice to prevent them going brown
Smear butter generously over the frying pan, up the sides too. Sprinkle sugar over the top in a nice thick layer (this will be the toffee bit, so if you
like lots of toffee, put extra butter and sugar)
Remove your apple halves from the lemon juice and embed them in the butter/sugar mixture, with the holes (where the cores were) facing downwards.
Pack the apples in tightly. Tuck a few star anise between the apples
Preheat the oven to 220ºC (425ºF), Gas Mark 7. If using an Aga, prepare the roasting oven
Put the frying pan over a medium flame on your hob. Keep an eye on it; this will caramelise. You have to be brave here and keep it going for about
15 minutes – you want a deep golden caramel colour and texture to develop
Once this has happened, leave the pan to cool, then plop your pastry disc on the top of the pan, tucking in the edges. Place the pan in the oven and
bake the tart for 15 minutes or until the pastry has risen
Here is the tricky bit: find a plate slightly larger than your frying pan and lay it over the top. Holding the handle firmly and keeping the plate pressed
tightly to the pan, flip them both over.
The plate will now be on the bottomand the frying pan on top. Lift the pan off to reveal a gorgeous, sticky, toffee-apple tart. If some of the apples have become displaced, don’t worry, just take a fork and prod them back into place
Cut into slices while hot and serve with a scoop or quenelle of Crème Fraîche Ice Cream.
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