Autumn on a plate: come in from the fireworks and warm up with this sweet, rich caramelised apple treat

I love a tarte tatin: it’s one of those perfect recipes that contains only a few key ingredients at its core – in this case, butter, sugar, apples and pastry – yet it brings out the absolute best qualities from each: the sugar dark, bittersweet, caramelised, and tempered by the acidity of the apples, the texture softened but held by the combination of butter and fruit pectin. The only problem is that the whole thing happens behind a screen of puff pastry, meaning that tarte tatin takes a great deal of practice and repetition to reach the right level of caramelisation blind. So, here, I’ve dispensed with the pastry altogether, making it a much easier preparation. For the intrepid, this is delicious cooked over a bonfire, where the smoke adds an incredible extra dimension; it also functions as a warming treat after a chilly evening out watching the fireworks.

Jackson Boxer is chef/owner of Brunswick House, Vesper and Dove, all in London, and culinary director of Cowley Manor near Cheltenham and the Henrietta in London