1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
4 green apples, skinned and sliced
1/2 cup diced butter
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
Caramel sauce (recipe follows)
Vanilla bean ice cream
Toast walnuts in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes, let cool, then roughly chop. Place apples in the bottom of cast-iron pan or heavy all-steel pan. Drizzle apples with half the caramel sauce and dot with butter. Cover apples with the puff pastry that has been cut out in a circle the size of the pan. Place tatin in a 375-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until pastry is a golden color. Invert tatin onto a plate and drizzle remaining caramel sauce over it. Sprinkle toasted walnuts on top. Place 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream in the center of the tatin and slice. Serves 4.
Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
Stir together sugar and water in a pot over medium heat until sugar dissolves and cook until it reaches a rich golden color, about 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Thin with water until consistency of heavy cream. (Adding water also helps to stop the cooking process; be careful of spattering when adding water to hot liquid.)
