Sweet Potato Tart Tatin. Now, why didn’t I think of that? Well, I did. Sorta. So I’m sorta a genius. I sorta suppose.
You see I thought of something sorta similar to this last month. Only I called it a gratin, sorta. An upside-down sweet potato gratin with tomatoes and caramelized onions. It was a gratin because it was baked with goat cheese and sprinkled with breadcrumbs. But inverting it on the plate before serving made it like a tatin. Sorta.
But I didn’t see that until I got some comments that opened my eyes. Comments like these. Sorta.
“Your inversion reminds me of a tart tatin, and I think you were smart to hold the breadcrumbs for passing at the table. Sounds delicious!” Oui, Chef
“You have melded a gratin with a tatin and made something altogether unique!” Sylvie @ GITK
So now I am doing a week-long series of Savory Pies. It didn’t take a genius to figure I could convert my gratin into a tatin. But it did take a coupla geniuses to help me perfect it. Sorta.
serves 8 CLICK here for a printable recipe
- (14 ounce) package frozen all-butter puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator
- 3 tablespoon real maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, plus more as garnish
- 1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes (try to buy potatoes of relatively even width and few bulges), peeled, ends removed, and sliced into 1/8″ rounds
- 1 pinch each kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 teaspoon water for egg wash
Place oven rack in center position. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a lightly floured work surface and a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the puff pastry out to about a 10-inch x 15-inch rectangle a scant 1/4‑inch thick (if you are using the kind of puff pastry that comes in a two sheet (17.5 ounce) package, stack both sheets on top of each other before rolling. This will assure you have a big enough piece of pastry to work with, but will leave quite a bit of leftover pastry. Save the scraps for another use).
Use the point of a sharp knife and a 10 to 11-inch dinner plate as a template to cut pastry into a round. Set round onto the prepared baking sheet. Prick pastry round all over with a fork. Refrigerate until chilled, about 20 minutes. Save scraps for another use.
Pour maple syrup into a cold 10-inch cast iron skillet. Scatter butter slices here and there over maple syrup, followed by thyme leaves.
Starting in the center, arrange thinly sliced sweet potato rounds in a couple layers of overlapping concentric circles right on top of the syrup, butter and thyme. You should get 2 to 3 layers. Season with salt and pepper.
Get the chilled pastry round from the refrigerator. Carefully lay dough on top of sliced sweet potatoes.Tuck the edges in all around the skillet, creating a snug fit. Brush exposed pastry with egg wash. Pierce the center with the point of a sharp knife to create a vent for steam to escape.
Bake until edges are deep amber and pastry is puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes.
When ready to serve, set a serving plate that’s larger than the skillet upside down on top of the skillet. Using oven mitts or thick kitchen towels in both hands, hold the plate and skillet firmly together in front of you. Quickly invert both the plate and the skillet in one confident motion, letting the tart fall onto the plate. The plate will now be on the bottom and skillet will be upside down on top. Carefully remove the skillet allowing the tart to settle in one piece onto the serving plate. Be careful as the syrup will be hot. A few potato slices may stick to the bottom of the skillet; simply remove them with a spatula and place them on top of the finished tart. Garnish with more thyme leaves.
The end result will be like a traditional tart with the crust on the bottom and potatoes on the top. Slice into 8 wedges and serve warm.
Serves 8 as a side dish or 4 as a main course
NOTE: This recipe comes from my book Savory Pies (Ulysses Press 2012).
SERIOUS FUN FOOD
Greg Henry
Sippity Sup
Oh, Greg… my husband and I have had this conversation over and over again. We are in coastal Carlsbad and while we are not natives to this lovely town, we both feel that it is the most “home” we’ve ever felt. We do have a house with the pool and all the umbilicals (security system, gardener, bug guy, etc) that just seem to draw dollars from our accounts and then there are the state taxes on top of all of the other taxes. My husbands job is such that we could easily move to other areas where instead of living in an average home and having average cars we could live more like royalty and add boats and planes to our belonings. We talk about, think about it, then we wake up like you do and take the pups for our morning beach walk. We look at each other and know that we can’t leave. We love it here and it is home… and I think that it is going to stay that way.
A beautiful post that reminds me of what I have to be thankful for… thank you! I’m forwarding it on to my husband.
Geez, I love the way you write. I don’t know you, but I feel like I know you! Anyway, I guess I was so taken with this posting you’ve written on Los Angeles, because I feel the same way as you do. I was born on the east coast and moved here over thirty years ago, and I still have to pinch myself everyday because I can’t believe i live in this amazing and vibrant city.
Sounds like a fabulous place to live. Of course your other dream sounds amazing too.
It was great to see you in person at the avocado event yesterday.
I did not hit the real estate lottery in San Diego. Quite the contrary. Sigh.
But almost 10 years ago, on a semi plan-less decision (yes I planned it, yes I was young enough to have no idea what I was even doing) I bought real estate in Aruba. I hit the lottery there, so to speak. I love it there and go a few times a year but San Diego is an amazing place and is home. I mean, cmon, I need Trader Joe’s and all SoCal has to offer 🙂
Oh Greg, you can never move from this wonderful place after writing such an ode! You’ll simply lose too much of what you cherish in your heart. How lucky you are to wake up to a place that keeps you so alive.
Hmmm.… we have similar fantasies.… and affection for our realities. Lovely post Greg.
Funny that you define a great deal of “home” with your kitchen. As crappy and small as my kitchen is, I would miss it if we moved.
Lovely post Greg. Thanks for the introduction to Colin, his work is fantastic!
I moved here in the summer of 1981, still remember the feeling when I first saw the valley all lit up at night coming over the crest of the 405 on my way home to Simi Valley.
LL
Beautiful video–I don’t live in Los Angelese but it expresses my appreciation for San Francisco, and well, California in general.
Your fantasies are mirrors of mine and my husband’s (we imagine living in Sardinia or Corsica). We sometimes consider selling our house and moving someplace else, as you described, someplace…less. Then we go away for a while and come home falling in love with PV all over again. Ideally, we’d still love to be near the water, though. If that is the kind of breathtaking view you get to enjoy each day, I am completely envious!
I currently live in Costa Rica and let me tell you it is AMAZING. I get to wake up and walk out into my 90 degree weather and surf the morning away. No one here cares about the newest fashion trends or what was on TV last night. The best part about it is now I get to go home and spend MY VACATIONS in California. A couple months a year I get to go home and see all my friends and family and visit my hometown, then I get to return to paradise. I am a true beliver in if your happy person that carries with you, and you will probably be happy anywhere you go! Loved the post. –Daniella
is a rare thing, Greg. Better stay put! Perhaps you can “simplify in place” — keep the house, edit the possessions. I always want to own my stuff, not be owned by my stuff. Too many people waste precious life first acquiring stuff then maintaining that stuff. It would be difficult to leave your kitchen behind!
To find somewhere you love to live is a rarer thing than we realize. You are truly blessed Greg. Perhaps you can live for just part of the year in a small apartment overlooking the Agean:D
well you are one of my idols in a lot of ways so whatever you do I am going to want to do it too…
I love your comment about being able to get tea. I am assuming you mean from LA’s Chinatown.?
Yep! GREG
Who can leave? We’ve got it all. But am going to scope out New Mexico in a few weeks for when I’ve had too much of this good thing.
Loved the narrative here. The video came shutting down on me but I got the musical and visual idea.
Traffic is already bad enough — do you want people to know what a great city this is?
I’ve been gone for 15 years and just moved back. It is good to be home. That’s a beautiful video. I thrive on that fact that we are all just civilized enough to live together in a city that is in constant motion.
As a native Angeleno, I understand and appreciate your attachment to Los Angeles! Bookmarking this post to remind me about the wonderful aspects I miss about my hometown!