Tarte Tatin

Peel, halve and core the apples and toss them with the juice of the lemon half. Use firm apples — Bramleys collapse into sauce.

Melt the butter and sugar in a 24 cm ovenproof frying pan over medium heat and cook, without stirring, until it turns a deep amber caramel.

Take it off the heat, stir in the vanilla extract if using, then pack the apple halves in tightly, cut side up, curved side down into the caramel. They shrink, so crowd them.

Return to medium heat and cook for 20 minutes, spooning caramel over, until the apples have softened and the caramel has thickened. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200°C, roll the puff pastry out a little and cut a 26 cm circle; keep it in the fridge.

Take the pan off the heat, lay the pastry over the top and tuck the edges down inside the pan, around the apples.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is deep gold and puffed.

Rest for 5 minutes only. Wearing oven gloves (the handle is as hot as the oven), put a plate wider than the pan over it and invert it in one confident movement, away from you. Left to cool, the caramel sets and the tart cements itself to the pan.

Serve warm with crème fraîche.