French Shallot and Soy Caramel Tart Tatin

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 4 as an entrée

Ingredients

800g French shallots, peeled and left whole
25g butter + extra for greasing mould
1 tbsp grapeseed oil
3 tbsp light soy sauce
5 tbsp caster sugar
1-2 sheets of good quality store-bought puff pastry
4 sprigs thyme
Salt and pepper
100g goats cheese, to garnish

Method

Grease a 22cm (approximately) cake tin with butter and line the base with baking paper.

For the shallots, melt butter and oil in a saucepan. Add the whole shallots and cook on a low heat for 8 minutes making sure they do not colour. Now add 1 tablespoon each of the soy sauce and sugar and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the shallots are tender. Once cooked, cool slightly then add the thyme sprigs.

Preheat the oven to 190°C.

In a small frying pan make a caramel with the remaining sugar. Just as it starts to turn golden add the last 2 tablespoons of soy and reduce for a few seconds.

Pour the caramel on the base of the tin, tilting to spread evenly and arrange shallots in spiral shape. Cut the puff pastry into a disc that is 3 cm larger than the diameter of the cake tin. Blanket the pastry over the shallots and carefully tuck in the excess pastry around the inside of the pan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before quickly turn out onto a platter. Crumble goat’s cheese over the top and add few fresh thyme leaves.