Saturday, July 25, 2009

French Apple Tarte


Hullo folks, for those that have been following my food blog, i know i haven't been regular in posting, and its been some time since my last blog entry.  Life's been busy.  I went on a really lovely two week vacation to Europe and had my first encounter with the French Apple Tarte in a cafe in Paris.  I was entralled by the taste.  It was sweet, tangy and rich.  The emsemble had thinly sliced apples sitting on a crisp buttery thin crust.  Upon return, I was determined to re-create it at home.  I can't possibly fly to paris just to satisfy a craving, can I.  Mastering the art of french apple tarte is certainly the cheaper option.

I obtained a recipe from Food Network.  Ina Garten's recipe looked promising and I decided to use the apple fomula from that.  For the base, I used the recipe from David Lebovitz.  That is my go-to recipe for pie crust, sweet or savory.

Without further ado, here's the recipe. 

Ingredients for the apples topping:

  • 4 Granny Smith (green) apples
  • 1/2 cup castor sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced into small cubes
  • 1/2 cup apricot jam/gel
  • 1 tablespoons rum
  • 1 tablespoon water

Method

  1. Peel the apples and remove the cores from them. 
  2. Slice the apples crosswise in thin slices. 
  3. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices. 
  4. Sprinkle with the full 1/2 cup of sugar and dot with the butter.
  5. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. 
  6. Rotate the pan once during cooking. 
The apple juices will burn in the pan but the tart will be fine.  When the tart's done, heat the apricot jelly together with the rum/water and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. 

Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn't stick to the paper. 

Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

Enjoy!