7 medium apples: 4 Cox, 3 Granny Smith
200g white sugar
50g butter
200g ready-made shortcrust pastry
1. Peel, halve and core the apples, then put in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours.
2. Put the sugar into a 20cm heavy-based ovenproof frying pan along with 50ml water and leave to soak for a couple of minutes, then cook over a medium heat until golden and fudgy. Take off the heat and stir in the butter, and a pinch of salt, until well combined, then carefully arrange the apples in the pan, round-side down, bearing in mind the caramel will be very hot, and put back on the heat – you may need to cut some of the apples into smaller pieces to fill in the gaps. Cook for 5 minutes, then take off the heat and allow to cool completely.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Roll out the pastry to 5mm thick, and cut out a circle slightly larger than your pan. Put back into the fridge to rest.
4. Put the pastry on top of the pan and tuck in the edges around the fruit. Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden, then remove from the oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then place a plate, slightly larger than the pan, on top and then, very carefully, using oven gloves, invert the tart on to the plate. Best served warm, with ice cream.
