A Tarte Tatin, the famous French upside down tart traditionally based on apples, has an inherent savoury quality even as the wonderful dessert that it is, thanks to the saltiness of the puff pastry. Unlike many desserts involving pastry, this base is never sweet.

I took this idea, of both sweetness and saltiness, as the kick-off point for a dish that celebrates the red figs that are in season now while giving it an element of a cheese course by the simple addition of crumbled blue cheese as soon as the tart comes out of the oven. So no cheese is actually cooked with it; it’s almost a garnish in a sense.

But it needed more. Enter that hero of a million dishes: bacon. And with that, the dish becomes a main event in itself. We actually had it for supper one evening.

You could, however, bring it out as a proper conversation piece at the end of a dinner party. If it were me, I wouldn’t tell the guests what was in store, just mumble something about “just fetching the pud” and then watch their reactions once they put their spoons in. Fun. And surprises always add something to the dinner table.

Alternatively, bring a fig, bacon and blue cheese Tarte Tatin out as part of a cheese board with other cheeses and preserves. I’d precede that with fairly light courses though.

The tart caramelising. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Ingredients

1 packet frozen puff pastry, thawed

16 red figs

250 g bacon, diced

¼ cup butter

⅓ cup sugar

3 Tbsp of the syrup from a jar of green fig preserves

A little lemon juice

150 g blue cheese, crumbled or cubed

Method

Melt butter in a heavy ovenproof frying pan with the sugar and fig syrup, on a very low heat. Leave it to caramelise slowly, keeping an eye on it while you prepare the figs and dice the bacon.

Halve the red figs and rub lemon juice over them. Tilt the pan this way and that to help even out the browning of the sugar.

When it is pleasingly golden all over, add bacon dice here and there.

Now place the halved figs round side down around the edge, and more circles of them until the whole pan is covered. Place some of them cut side down for contrast. You can do this in alternating circles as I did or in strips or a pattern you like.

Let the figs and bacon cook in the syrup on a gentle simmer on a very low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes very gently or until the buttery syrup is nicely caramelised all over.

Roll out the pastry on a floured board and cut out a round just a little bigger than the width of the pan. Lay it over the top, then tuck the edges underneath using the handle of a dessert spoon.

Prick the pastry all over with a fork.

Place in a preheated 200℃ oven until the pastry is crisp and golden, about 20 to 25 minutes. Turn out onto a large plate, by holding the plate over the top of the pan and then turning it over deftly and firmly, without letting it slide off the plate once turned. Scatter blue cheese over immediately, to begin to melt into it. DM/TGIFood

Read The Strange Case of the Tarte Tatin here.

Mervyn Gers Ceramics supplies dinnerware for the styling of some TGIFood shoots. For more information, click here.

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