Every single small plate we sampled left me in awe, and I was particularly keen to make my own version of their the in-season tomato tarte tatin with lemon mascarpone, which we had as the grand finale of our mains, encapsulating the taste of summer in a wonderful slice of this French upside down tart.
I had also never made a tarte tatin, so I was obviously also up for the challenge! After some online investigating I found a great recipe from one of the food writers I truly admire, Anna Jones, which I tweaked and added to ever so slightly with the addition of lemon mascarpone, to get as close to Lammat’s version as possible and I think I very much succeeded with the final result.
Yes, this sort of recipe takes a bit of time and patience (though the actual cooking involved is quite straightforward), but this stunning tart is a real showstopper, a summer show piece for any dinner party or BBQ that I want to make at least a couple times again before summer draws to a close, keeping a little bit of the Marseille spirit with me in London!
INGREDIENTS
- 1kg of good ripe tomatoes (I use a mixture of different coloured ones, both big and cherry)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Olive oil
- 3 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp brown sugar or honey
- Butter, for greasing
- A 200g pack of all-butter puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
- 200g mascarpone
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- 200g rocket
- Halve the tomatoes and put them cut-side up on a baking tray with a little salt, pepper and olive oil.
- Bake them in a low oven at 100C/210F for 3-4 hours to slowly roast and sweeten.
- You may need to take some of the smaller tomatoes out a bit earlier, so keep an eye on them. Once cooked, allow to cool a little.
- Next make the caramelised onions.
- Heat a little olive oil on a medium heat and add the sliced onions.
- Cook for 10 minutes to sweeten and soften before adding the vinegar, sugar or honey and the leaves from a few sprigs of the oregano (saving the rest for later) and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cook for 30-40 minutes until really soft and sticky.
- Butter a cast-iron or heavy frying pan about 24cm in diameter and lay the tomatoes cut-side down in a kind of mosaic, fitting them all together.
- Once they are all squeezed in, scatter the onion over the top.
- Roll out the pastry until it’s about 1cm thick and cut out a circle just bigger than your pan.
- Lay it over the onion mixture and tuck in the sides.
- You can stop here and put the tart into the fridge if you like.
- Once you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6.
- Brush the pastry with a little beaten egg and put it into the oven for 25‑30 minutes until golden all over and bubbling around the edges.
- While the tart is cooking mix the lemon zest and juice into the mascarpone and whip with a spoon until well combined.
- Put the lemon mascarpone in the fridge until the tart is ready to serve.
- Once the tart is golden and bubbling, take it out of the oven and allow it to sit for 5 minutes before running a knife around the edge and carefully turning out on to a plate.
- Serve the tart with the lemon mascarpone and rocket.
