Megan says: “The pot luck part of the title refers to whatever (pretty much) is lurking in your fruit bowl. It’s a basic tarte tatin recipe, using up whatever fruit you have, lovingly drenched in caramel and pastry – marvellous.”

Serves 4

Cooking time: 55 minutes

Ingredients

50g salted butter
100g caster sugar
enough fruit to cover the base of the frying pan (I use 1 banana, half an apple, a nectarine and a tangerine [or half an orange])
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 roll of pre-rolled puff pastry
ice cream or double/heavy cream, to serve

Equipment

20-cm/8-inch diameter ovenproof frying pan/skillet

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 ̊C fan/180 ̊C/350 ̊F/Gas 4.

Chop up the butter into chunks and place in the fridge.

Put the oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat and sprinkle a quarter of the sugar over the base. Let the sugar dissolve and, once liquid, add another quarter of the sugar and let it dissolve. Gently shake the pan if you need to but do not stir with any sort of utensil! Continue adding the sugar as it dissolves and turns a deep, golden amber colour, about 10 minutes.

Keep an eye on the sugar, and meanwhile, prep the fruit. Halve and stone any stone fruit. Peel and slice a banana into thick chunks. Cut and core an apple into wedges. Peel and thickly chop up a tangerine (or orange).

Once the sugar has dissolved, let it come to a gentle bubble and then remove from the heat immediately. immediately Add the chilled butter and vanilla paste, then shake the pan well to melt the butter and combine. Add the fruit, cut-side-down, on top of the caramel mix, nestling it all in so it is snug and tightly fitted, in a single layer. Press it down gently to settle in the caramel too.

Next, unroll the pre-rolled pastry on top of the frying pan and, working quickly, loosely cut around the edge. Using the end of a spoon or fingers (watching you don’t touch the hot caramel), fold under the pastry edge, tucking it in down the side of the frying pan. Then, using a small knife, prick a few holes over the pastry so steam can escape easily.

Bake on the top shelf of the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the caramel is bubbling around the edge.

Remove from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes, before inverting onto a serving plate and serving with ice cream or double cream.

Swap ins

You can use plum, pear, orange (no skin), tangerine (no skin), nectarine, peach, grapes, cherries (stoned/pitted), mango (no skin), banana (no skin), pineapple (no skin) – whatever you have.

Leftovers

Store in the fridge for up to 1 day.

Home Bird: Simple, Low-Waste Recipes for Family and Friends by Megan Davies (£16.99, Ryland Peters & Small) is out now

Low-waste dessert recipes that are perfect for using up any fruit you have lying around