A wedding-worthy tomato tarte Tatin

• परोसना: SERVES 4-6

सामग्री

1kg good, ripe tomatoes olive oil

3 red onions, freshly sliced

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon brown sugar or runny honey

a small bunch of thyme or oregano

25g butter, for greasing flour, for dusting

1 x 375g pack of all-butter puff pastry

1 organic egg, beaten

50g baby capers, drained and dried on kitchen paper

निर्देश

Preheat your oven to 120°C/100°C fan/gas ½. Cut the tomatoes in half and put them cut-side up on a baking tray with a little salt, pepper and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Put them in the oven for 3-4 hours to slowly roast and sweeten. You may need to take some of the smaller tomatoes out a bit earlier, so keep an eye on them. Once cooked, remove and allow to cool a little. (Sometimes I find it easier to cook the tomatoes overnight: I roast them at 120°C/100°C fan/gas ½/2 for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and leave them until the morning.)

Next make the caramelised onions. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil on a medium heat and add the sliced onions. Cook for 10 minutes to sweeten and soften before adding the vinegar, sugar, the leaves from a few sprigs of the thyme or oregano (saving the rest for later) and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook on a low heat for 30-40 minutes until really soft and sticky.

Butter a cast-iron or heavy ovenproof frying pan (about 24cm in diameter) - a well-buttered pan will mean the tart comes out easily.

Lay the tomatoes cut-side down in a kind of mosaic, fitting them all together; don't worry if there is a little bit of overlap. Once they are all squeezed in, scatter the onions over the top.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll out the pastry until it's about 1cm thick, then cut out a circle just bigger than your pan. Lay it over the onion mixture and tuck the sides around the onion inside the pan. You can stop here and put the tart into the fridge if you like.

Once you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/ gas 7. Brush the pastry with a little of the beaten egg and put it into the oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden all over and bubbling around the edges.