This is a photograph of my father and
I in a restaurant some years ago.
This recipe was developed in my father’s memory.
Wild raspberries grow around
the property where he lived with Jackie, and for the last couple of years
during my visits, we had picked them together. Because he loved
bananas and Puerto Rican rum, it seemed like a fitting combination. I just wish
he’d lived long enough to have tasted it with his wild
berries.
Banana Tarte Tatin
Ingredients
Dusting flour for work
surface
One sheet of frozen puff
pastry
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup raw (Turbinado) sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 ½ large bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp Puerto Rican rum
12 raspberries for garnish
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 13 ½“ square. Using
a cake pan as a guide, cut out a 12“ round. Transfer pastry to a
baking sheet lined with parchment paper and refrigerate 15 minutes. Make three
½“ slits in the center, set aside.
Melt butter in a 12 “ metal
pan over medium heat. Stir in sugar and salt. Cook, stirring lightly until
the mixture turns amber—about three minutes.
Cut the bananas on the bias,
and arrange in a metal pan, overlapping slightly. Cook without stirring,
three minutes. Mix the vanilla and rum together and drizzle over the bananas,
cooking until the rum evaporates and the liquid thickens—about two more
minutes.
Place the raspberries on top
of the bananas, arranging them so they’re distributed evenly.
Then place the pastry round
on top of the fruit and place the pan in the oven until the pastry browns
and puffs slightly—about 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and
carefully invert onto a serving plate after allowing it to cool slightly. Place
raspberries around the edges. Serve warm, with crème fraiche.
