The fall season has come and gone. Although it is so short, I do think it is the prettiest time in Kent. Perhaps it was meant to be that way so we would appreciate the abbreviated season all the more. As nature starts to shut down for the year, we all adjust to the changes. The days grow shorter; we pull out the sweaters; baseball has turned into football, and our thoughts start to turn toward the holidays and cooking indoors.
While local corn, fresh-picked blueberries and strawberries, beefsteak tomatoes and ripe peaches are just memories of summer, nature has one last gift to offer cooks in the form of apples. And there are so many glorious varieties. The apples in markets that have been stored all year have been replaced by the new, fresh crop and the taste of these will quickly remind us of how apples should taste.
I have written several times about family recipes and luckily, I have several family members who are really good cooks! All of this brings me around to the current recipe. I must confess that apples are not my favorite fruit. (I’m a blueberry boy.) And I do leave the desserts to my wife, Leslie. But recently, I had the pleasure of tasting the following delectable which was whipped up by my cousin Andrea at our cousin’s reunion. I was very impressed. Leslie snapped off a photo of it and urged me to consider it for the blog column. So with credit to my beautiful and talented cousin, here is her recipe for “Tart aux Pommes.”
Ingredients:
1 sweet tart pastry shell
6 apples, galas or golden delicious (about 2 ½ lbs.)
1 tbsp. butter
6 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. freshly grated lemon rind
2 tbsp. Triple Sec or Calvados
½ cup orange or apple jelly
Prepare tart pastry (listed below) and refrigerate for a few minutes.
Peel two of the apples, slice in half, discard core and stem and continue cutting crosswise into thin slices about one-quarter-inch thick. There should be about three cups.
Heat the butter in a skillet and add the apple slices, sprinkle with three tablespoons sugar and add the grated lemon rind. Cook about three minutes stirring gently and shaking the skillet. Add the triple sec and remove from the heat. Pour the slices into a bowl to cool.
Preheat the oven to 400°.
Peel the remaining four apples, slice in half, discard the core and stem and continue cutting crosswise into thin slices, one-quarter inch thick. Put aside for a moment.
Take out the chilled tart shell and put the cooled, cooked apple slices into the bottom of the shell. Spread evenly. Take the remaining apples and begin placing them on top of the cooked apples. Work from the outer edge of the tart pan, toward the center, arranging the apples overlapping in a symmetrical circular pattern over the cooked apples.
Sprinkle the remaining three tablespoons of sugar over the entire surface of the tart. Place in the oven and bake for 60 minutes. Apples should be just brown on the edges. Remove and set aside to cool to room temperature
Heat the jelly in a small saucepan and using a pastry brush, spread the top of the apple tart with the jelly, just until the surface glistens. Serves 8 to 10.
Sweet tart pastry
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. grated orange rind
4 tbsp. sugar
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces (hint use frozen butter that breaks into pieces as you cut it)
1 large egg slightly beaten just to mix it
1 tsp. orange juice
1 tsp. cold water
1 10-inch Teflon coated tart pan (non-sticking)
Combine flour, sugar, rind and sugar in a food processor. Use on/off pulse. When coarse and mixed, gradually add egg mixed with orange juice and water. Process only until a ball of dough begins to form. With floured hands, line tart pan with the dough. Be sure to spread dough evenly and up sides of tart pan. Chill in refrigerator while preparing the apples.
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