Carrot tarte tatin

I was inspired to make this carrot tarte tatin after seeing a recipe for it in Rachel Khoo’s latest cookbook: My Little French Kitchen. I featured her roast red wine chicken recipe last week. The carrot is cooked in carrot juice to amplify the carrot flavour and this makes an interesting and delicious side dish.

I was also keen to make this because one of my favourite recipes from last year was a roasted beetroot and onion tarte tatin. This dish with balsamic caramel and thyme is utterly delicious and makes a perfect side dish for any meat. This is perfect on its own with whipped goat’s cheese, goat’s cheese pecorino or Parmesan cheese shavings.

I simply love the savoury and sweet crunchiness of the buttery flaky pastry. All around, it just elevates the humblest of vegetables to a whole new level of awesomeness. 

I recently discovered David Chang’s method of cooking carrots in carrot juice , so I employed some of that technique when making this tatin. I left out the kombu and simply added about 3/4 of a cup of freshly squeezed carrot juice about halfway through the sautéing of the carrots phase. This is entirely optional. I think steam roast the carrots (with or without carrot juice) as I have seen in this amazing recipe could also work really well. I think the cumin would work wonderfully with the honey too.

I prefer making my tatins in an ovenproof frying pan so that everything is held together. In the past, I have made them in a loose bottom tart dish and all the caramel leaks out. I like the dish to be completely sealed. The particular pan I have, which is a 24cm stainless steel frying pan is perfect and is the ideal width for an already rolled 250g square of Woolworths All-butter puff pastry.

PS ~The leftovers were wonderful served cold. I smeared goat’s cheese on a few small slices which balanced out the sweetness and were delicious. You could also blend goat’s cheese with whipped cream and dollop this on when the tart is still warm.

You might also like my roasted shallot tarte tatin or my roasted onion and beetroot and tarte tatin.

Carrot tarte tatin

A delicious and savoury Carrot tarte tatin recipe.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:10 minutes mins

Cook Time:55 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 8-10 medium carrots peeled and halved lengthways
• 2-3 T butter
• 3-4 sprigs of thyme
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed carrot juice
• 2 T runny honey
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• sea salt and pepper
• 250 g puff pastry

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F and scrub or peel the carrots and cut them in half
• Melt the butter in a large frying pan and as it bubbles add the carrots and thyme and toss to coat. You want to cook them for about 15 minutes.
• About halfway through - add the carrot juice if you are using this. Put a lid on the pan and watch closely ensuring that they don't burn, toss around every now and again. Just before they are done, add the vinegar and salt and pepper and season well. Toss around to coat.
• Drizzle the honey over the bottom of the frying pan/dish and swirl to coat.
• Arrange the carrots across the surface of the pan, cut side facing down, season well with sea salt and pepper.
• Place the pastry over the carrots and tuck the edges in.
• Bake for 30 - 35 minutes until the puff pastry is golden.
• Place a large serving plate over the pan and flip the tartan out.
• Serve warm as a side dish or on its on as with a salad.

Author: Sam LInsell

I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.

Visit my Drizzle and Dip Facebook page to get updates on all my posts or subscribe in the top left.

I can also be found enthusiastically pinning beautiful food images on Pinterest, and snapping pics of my life in Cape Town and what I eat on Instagram