Tarte tatin with endive, ham and Beemster cheese

Serves 4. Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

• 100 g sugar
• 50 ml red wine
• 8-10 endives
• Puff pastry, 5 slices or on a roll
• Salt and pepper
• 100 g Beemster cheese
• 100 g gammon
• 50 g hazelnuts
• Handful of parsley

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 190 C.

Preparing the caramel:

1. Caramelize the sugar by heating the sugar in a tall saucepan. Do not stir. Occasional swirling is fine.
2. Bring the wine to a boil in another pan.
3. Once the sugar has a golden color, add the red wine. This can cause some bubbling, so be careful!
4. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and stir well.
5. Pour the red wine syrup into a round, low baking tin. For example a quiche mold or a round baking tin. Tilt it slightly so that the syrup spreads over the entire baking tin.

Preparing the endives:

1. Cut the endives in half lengthwise. Don’t cut the bottom off completely as it will keep the leaves together. So only remove the hard, bitter core.
2. Place the endive halves tightly together, in a circle, in the caramel with the flat side down.

Preparing the puff pastry:

1. Put the puff pastry slices on top of each other and roll out into a large 2 mm thick piece
2. Drape the piece on top of the endives and pierce the dough
3. Fold the overlapping dough on the inside of the baking tin around the endives
4. Bake the cake in about 45 minutes until golden brown and done.

Preparing the garnish:

1. Meanwhile, cut the Beemster cheese and ham into equal cubes. They can be between 0.5 cm and 1 cm.
2. Chop the hazelnuts or grind them in a mixer.
3. Bake them in a skillet for about 2 minutes until golden brown and fragrant.
4. Cut an endive into long, thin strips for garnish.

Finish the tarte tatin:

1. Remove the tarte tatin from the oven.
2. Carefully drain the tarte tatin and collect the cooking liquid.
3. Reduce the liquid by half in a pan.
4. Turn the tin with the tarte tatin over on a serving dish.
5. Brush the tarte tatin with the reduced, syrupy liquid.
6. Place the strips of endive on the cake. Sprinkle with ham cubes, cheese cubes, parsley and the finely ground hazelnuts.