PlumTatin with BlueCheeseButterscotch and Lavender

Ingredients
Ingredients (serve 2 people):
For the galette:
• 2tbsp all purpose flour,
• 1tsp sugar,
• 1 pinch of salt,
• 1tsp fennel seed, crushed in a mortar,
• 1tbsp vegetable shortening,
• 1/2 tsp white wine.

For the butterscotch sauce:
• 1/2 tbsp sugar,
• 1/2 tbsp + 1tsp water,
• 40g butter,
• Couple of grains of soya lecithin (optional, see note),
• Ca 1/2 tbsp cream,
• Ca 50g blue cheese like Gorgonzola.

To serve:
• 1/2 tbsp blue cheese like Gorgonzola,
• 1 ripe plum at room temperature,
• Few lavender flowers.
Instructions
Start by doing the galettes. While your oven is warming to 180 C/356 F, in a bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt and the crushed fennel seed. Knead in the shortening pinching it between your fingers, add the white wine and work the dough a bit more until it has been absorbed by the flour. Press then the crumbs all together and divide it in two equal parts. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper and roll the two pieces of dough in a circle of at least 9 cm/3.5 inches. Bake them in the warm oven for about 10 minutes or until the border will take a nice golden colour.
Now for the butterscotch sauce, in a small saucepan put the sugar and 1 tsp of water; let it caramelise until a nice dark colour is achieved but be careful not to burn it or otherwise it will turn unpleasantly bitter (in case a slight bitterness is developed, a little addition of salt later can compensate for it). Add now the tbsp of water and the butter (as well as the lecithin if using) and stir until the caramel will be dissolved. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes to let the butter brown and develop its nice nutty aroma. Whisk in the cream and the cheese little by little. Keep on tasting the sauce since the amount of cheese you will need strongly depends on the cheese of your choice. While adding the cheese, keep the sauce warm but do not let the cheese cook too much or it will lose its characteristic aroma.
Once satisfied, keep the sauce warm.
Wash the plum, cut it in two to remove the central seed and slice it thinly. When the galettes will be ready, let them cool down briefly on a wire rack and spread on them some blue cheese. Mound a little nut of the cheese in their centre, and arrange the slices of plums in a rosette motif overlapping over it.
Crush slightly the flower of lavender between your fingers, sprinkle them on over the slices of plums, and pour some of the sauce over the centre of each galette. Serve the rest of the sauce on the side.
This tart is better when eaten warm.
Note: This butterscotch sauce might not have enough water the keep the emulsion stable over reheating. Both times I tried to make the sauce when I had to warm it up from cold, the fat started separating. In this case, pour the fat in a container and keep warming the sauce whisking with a whip. When the sauce will look stable and warmed through, just whisk in the reserved fat little at a time.
To make the emulsion more stable, you can whisk in 1/2 a teaspoon or so of water.