LEGGETT IMMOBILIER - LOCAL KNOWLEDGE YOU CAN TRUST 13
Joanna's
Tarte aux
Pommes
Joanna uses apples
from her garden,
locally produced
cognac and her homemade flan pastry
for
this delicious apple
tart. Alternatively,
she can recommend
using a good quality,
shop-bought, sweet
shortcrust pastry in
the UK, or a French
Pâte Sablée
6-8 medium-sized
cooking apples
1 tablespoon water
125g sugar (approx)
¼ cup cognac - or 2
teaspoons vanilla
essence
A knob of butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 extra tablespoon
sugar
¼ cup apricot jam
(for the apricot glaze)
1 Set the oven to 200ºC. Line a
20 cm flan dish with the pastry,
prick well and chill until firm.
Put a square of greased foil into
the flan, greased side down,
and fill with dried beans to prevent
the pastry shrinking. Bake
in the oven for 8-10 minutes.
Remove the foil, prick the base
of the flan with a fork and return to the oven
for a further 3
minutes, until the pastry starts
to colour.
2 Reserve 2 or 3 apples for
the top of the tart and peel,
core and quarter the rest.
Chop roughly and put into a
saucepan with the water, sugar,
cognac (or vanilla) and butter.
Cover and cook over a gentle
heat, stirring occasionally until
tender. Then raise the heat and
boil, stirring until thick enough
to hold in a mass in the spoon.
Push through a sieve if necessary.
Taste and add more sugar
if it's not sweet enough, then
place in the pastry shell.
3 Peel, core and thinly slice the
reserved apples. Sprinkle with
lemon juice and the tablespoon
of sugar, and then arrange patterns on top of
the apple pulp.
Bake in a moderately hot oven
(190ºC) for about 30 minutes,
until the apples are tender and
browned slightly.
4 Heat the apricot jam and 1
tablespoon of water over a low
heat, stirring until dissolved.
Pass it through a wire sieve,
then return to the pan and boil
gently until the glaze is clear
and has the desired consistency.
Brush the top of the apple
tart with the apricot glaze.
Bon appétit!
TOP TIP For extra
flavour, sprinkle powdered
almonds over the apples before
baking and serve with a good
helping of mascarpone cream