French Apple Tart
You will need:
· A 10 inch flan dish
· 3 large eating or medium cooking apples
· an ounce of butter
· a teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional)
· a dessertspoon full of olive oil (optional)
· brown sugar
· half a packet of ready-mixed pastry powder (or you can make shortcrust pastry), and a mixing bowl
· an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees C
1. Rub butter all over the inside of the flan dish
2. Put the pastry powder into a big mixing bowl and mix the vanilla essence and olive oil into it evenly, then add water slowly and mix to a smooth dough.
3. Roll or pat the pastry into a thin disc and slide or lift it very gently into the flan dish., fold and trim round the sides, put in the oven with no filling while you prepare the apples.
4. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into thin slices (about 24 per apple).
5. Remove the pastry from the oven. It should have a smooth skin. Spread butter thinly across the base of the tart, then sprinkle liberally and evenly with brown sugar.
6. Place the apple slices radially, like fan blades, all round the edge of the tart. Then do the same in the middle with smaller slices sloping in the opposite direction.
7. Put some small lumps of butter on the apple slices, and sprinkle with brown sugar.
8. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, finishing with 2 minutes under a hot grill to char the apples slightly.
9. Allow to cool and serve with cream, ice cream or custard (crème anglaise)
An alternative recipe bakes the crème anglaise in the tart around the apple slices.
Tarte Tatin
This is the legendary caramelised upside-down French apple tart you get in restaurants. The story goes that it was originally created accidentally in a restaurant in Lamotte-Beuvron, which is a small town on the old route from Paris to the Dordogne. There are several different recipes, but this one is practical and quite successful. The secret of a good Tarte Tatin is to build it properly, and to let it cool before inversion.
You will need:
· An 8-inch Pyrex pie dish with sloping sides, and a plate that fits just inside its rim.
· Four medium-sized cooking apples
· two ounces of butter
· a teaspoon of vanilla essence (optional)
· two tablespoonfuls of dark brown sugar
· a dessert spoonful of Cinnamon (optional)
· half a packet of ready-mixed pastry powder (or you can make shortcrust pastry), and a mixing bowl
· an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees C
1. Peel and core the apples and slice them fairly thinly (about 16 slices per apple).
2. Butter the inside of the pie dish liberally, then put in a layer of dark brown sugar (about an eighth of an inch thick)
3. Place the apple slices on top of the sugar, with the first layer around the edge of the bottom of the dish, then the next layers alternating radially and circumferentially like overlapping tiles, so that the pie will hold itself together.
4. Put some knobs of butter on top of the apple slices, and sprinkle liberally with cinnamon
5. Put the pastry powder into a big mixing bowl and add the vanilla essence, then add water slowly and mix to a smooth dough.
6. Pat or roll the pastry into a disc and lay it on top of the apple slices, tucking it slightly down the sides of the slices (not over the sides of the dish).
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 200 degrees. You should see brown caramel bubbling up the sides of the pie dish.
8. Allow to cool for two hours. The pastry should be sucked down tightly onto the apple slices as the pie cools. You can press it down gently with your hand.
9. Inversion!: Slide a knife blade around the inside of the pie dish, then place the plate upside down over the pastry, then holding everything together pick up the pie dish and plate and turn them over quickly. The apple slices and caramel should unstick themselves from the base of the dish and then you can lift the dish away. The apples should be smooth, brown and glossy.
10. Sprinkle more brown sugar liberally over the top and place the tart under ta hot grill for a few moments to caramelise the sugar. Or use a blowtorch!
11. Cool again, Cut carefully and serve with fresh cream. Formidable!
