Here’s my Tarte Tatin made to a recipe given to me by Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jnr’s father. It’s absolute simplicity!

Melt 75g of unsalted butter in a pan and add 150g of white sugar. Peel, core and halve across the equator desert apples, I find that Cox’s are ideal and the smaller they are the better. Arrange on top of the buter and sugar mix dome side down and place on a fairly hot stove. The apples will at first give off some water and the butter, sugar, apple water mix will be quite liquid and light coloured. Keep it boiling fast until it thickens and bigger bubbles appear. It will also darken. I judge when it’s ready by smell alone. It’ll reach a point where it smells like it’s burnt! It’s not, just remove from the heat at that point. Lay a disc of puff pastry on top, tucking it well down the sides, and put into an oven at 200C for around 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place an inverted plate over the top of the tarte and then flip it over so that the tarte ends up on the plate pastry side down. Allow to cool to room temperature and scoff the lot immediately with dollops of creme fraiche!