Can you freeze shallot and balsamic tarte tatin?
Yes, before its final cook. Freeze it in portions, one to each container.
How to freeze and defrost it, with the Food Standards Agency’s advice at each step.
The recipe
One batch makes 8 portions.
Ingredients for 8 portions
Method
Peel the shallots
- Boil the kettle.
- Put shallot in a big bowl and pour over boiling water from the kettle to cover. Leave for 5 minutes.
- While they soak, pick the leaves from sprig of thyme for the caramel and sprig of thyme for the tins, and keep them apart.
- Drain the shallots, trim the root ends and slip off the skins. Halve any big ones through the root.
Make the caramel
- Melt salted butter in your widest frying pan over a medium heat. Stir in light brown soft sugar and cook for 3 minutes until it bubbles and turns the colour of toffee.
- Add the shallots, cut sides down, with salt, black pepper and the thyme for the caramel. Cook for 10 minutes, turning them now and then, until browned all over.
- Pour in balsamic vinegar and water from the kettle. Simmer for 15 minutes until the shallots are soft when you push in a knife and the liquid is syrupy.
- Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool for 20 minutes.
- While it cools, unroll puff pastry and cut a 22cm circle from each sheet, using a plate as a guide.
Build the tarts
- Scatter the thyme for the tins over the bottom of two 20cm round tins or foil trays.
- Pack the shallots in tightly, cut sides down, and spoon the syrup over them.
- Lay a pastry circle on top of each, tuck the edge down inside the tin and prick the top a few times with a fork.
To eat now
- Heat the oven to 200°C fan.
- Bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and deep golden.
- Leave for 5 minutes. Put a plate over the tin and turn it out, so the shallots are on top.
- Cut each tart into 4.
How to freeze
-
cool any warm dishes before putting them in your freezer
, says the Food Standards Agency. - Put the lid on the container.
How to defrost
-
the safest way to defrost food is in the fridge overnight
, says the Food Standards Agency. - Take the lid off.
- Heat it in the oven until it’s steaming hot all the way through and golden.
-
it is important that food is cooked to steaming hot throughout, rather than warmed
, says the Food Standards Agency. - Leave for 5 minutes. Put a plate over the tin and turn it out, so the shallots are on top.
How we’d cook it, not advice. We don’t check recipes for allergens, and ingredients vary by brand, so check the label on everything you use. Prepare and cook food the way the Food Standards Agency says. Allergens and food safety
Nutrition
Per portion- Energy
- 474 kcal
- Fat
- 24.2g
- Carbohydrate
- 54.1g
- Protein
- 7.8g
Nutrition details
- Energy
- 474 kcal
- Fat
- 24.2g
- of which saturates
- 13.2g
- Carbohydrate
- 54.1g
- of which sugars
- 19g
- Fibre
- 4.1g
- Protein
- 7.8g
- Salt
- 1.92g
Estimated from ingredient data.
Made some already? Add it to your stash. Mark it always in and Nomstash tells you when you’re running low.
For Christmas Eve
- Serve it with A bag of salad leaves and some crusty bread.
- 1 tart feeds 4 One batch makes 8 portions.
- Vegetarian
No special kit
- Works best in a foil tray with a lid Any freezer-safe container does the job too.
- Everything from one shop Batch cook it with Nomstash and the foil trays with lids go on the same shopping list as the food.
Cook what you already cook
-
Already keep a freezer spreadsheet?
Paste it in from Excel or Google Sheets, or choose a CSV file, and Nomstash reads it into your stash.
Bring in my freezer list
Freezing and defrosting safely
The Food Standards Agency’s advice, in their words.
Label everything you freeze.
label food you freeze so you don’t end up with Unidentified Frozen Objects (UFOs)
The rest of the Food Standards Agency’s advice, in their words, is in our freezing and defrosting guide.
Sources
- Food Standards Agency How to chill, freeze and defrost food safely gov.uk
- Food Standards Agency Cooking your food gov.uk
Last checked . Each quotation on this page was read against the page it links to.