MASTERCLASS
French apple tart
‘A good, full-flavoured eating apple is best for this – try Braeburn or Cox. The key to achieving a professional look is to cut the apples really thinly, keeping a nice, rounded shape to the slices. I suggest you buy good-quality, ready-made puff pastry because making it is quite a faff’
PREPARATION lPreheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, Gas 6. lHave ready a non-stick baking tray, or line
one with baking parchment or a non-stick mat.
METHOD 1 If you’re making the compôte, peel, core and chop the Bramley apples and put them in a pan with the sugar, brandy and a few tablespoons of water. Simmer until just soft – about 15 minutes – then blitz to a purée in a blender. Reserve and leave to cool. 2 Roll out the pastry to 5mm/¼in thick and have ready a small side plate to cut around or a large cutter (about 15-20cm/6-8in in diameter). Cut out 4 circles and lay them on the baking tray. 3 Using a blunt table knife, mark a border 5mm/¼in in from the edge of each pastry circle without cutting right through. 4 Dip a fork in flour to stop it from sticking and prick the centre of each pastry disc all over (this time going all the way through the pastry), inside the border – this area won’t rise, whereas the outer edge will puff up. 5 Spread 2 heaped tbsp of apple compôte thinly over the pricked area of the circles. 6 Remove the stalk and base from the apples. You probably think it is easier to peel apples from the stalk to the base, but when you come to slice the apples this usually means that instead of slicing into rounded, half- moon shapes, they end up a bit flat and blunt – more like roof tiles! It is probably the baker in me, but I like them to be neater, as it makes the tart look nicer, so I always peel my apples going round their circumference,
starting at the top by the stalk. The trick is to hold the peeler still and move the apple. 7 Use a small, sharp knife to cut each peeled apple in half and remove the core. I am always taking the Mickey in classes, because the work benches end up looking like battlefields, with bits of apple strewn everywhere. You just need to take out the core, not a crater around it. 8 Put each half of apple, cut-side down, on your work surface and, starting at the stalk end, slice downwards all the way along, keeping your cuts about 5mm/¼in apart. 9 Arrange the slices from one whole apple on each of the bases in circles, starting from the outside, and with the largest slices, so each slice overlaps the previous one by half. Glaze the pastry borders with beaten egg or milk. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until both the apple and pastry base are golden brown. They are ready when the tarts lift away from the baking tray cleanly and crisply and the apple slices have dark tips. 10 Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes. 11 Put the apricot jam into a saucepan over a low heat, add 2 tbsp cold water and stir until the jam melts. Make sure it doesn’t boil, or it will thicken up and be impossible to brush. Using a pastry brush, glaze the tarts with the jam evenly over the top of the apples and then leave to cool.
SERVES 4 INGREDIENTS
Either 2 Bramley apples, 1 tbsp caster or granulated sugar and a splash of brandy OR 1 x 125g jar apple compôte
375g/12oz ready-made butter puff pastry
Plain flour for dusting
1 beaten egg (or a little milk), plus a pinch of salt, to glaze 4 good eating apples About 6 tbsp apricot jam
‘I’m always taking the Mickey in classes, because when it come to coring apples the work benches end up looking like battlefields, with bits of apple strewn everywhere’
l Recipes taken from Cook: In a Class of Your Own by Richard Bertinet with colour photos by Jonathan Gregson, published by Kyle Cathie (£19.99 hardback, including a free DVD, illustrating recipes and techniques from the book)
123
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164