The tart that makes you look pretty damn good when really you're just well read, resourceful and in a hurry: French Apple Tart (Tarte aux Pommes)

 

 

I know I would be a far better cook if I made my own puff pastry but the fact is, I am, essentially, lazy. And I buy loads of that lovely all butter French stuff when I go to France so why on earth would I bother? And, I wouldn't have been able to knock out this tart in the five minutes it took, if I had to spend God knows how long folding, rolling and resting, folding, rolling and resting....

 

I had a small two concerns: Is it wise to make a dessert that is more nuts than I am? I didn't think there was a major chance of anaphylaxis amongst our Sunday afternoon meal crowd (more like a Sunday soiree crowd in the end: note to self, don't open that wine you've been saving and drink two glasses of it without checking that you have actually put the oven on 'oven' instead of 'grill') and sometimes, people just don't like nuts, so I decided to have a reserve. And this was it. Once you've prepped the apples, five minutes will probably do it and with an apricot jam glaze, it looks like it's come straight out of a French patisserie window. And it tastes, and smells, sublime.

 

This was essentially sourced from Michel Roux Jnr's 'My Life in the Kitchen', which is current bedside reading, though there are a couple of little Lola and Finn's Mum twists, namely instead of creating an apple compote, I finished off a jar of apple sauce laced with calvados from Christmas that had been lurking at the back of the fridge by spreading it on the base of the tart. I then sprinkled a little sugar and cinnamon over the top of that before piling the apples neatly on top. With a bit of a flourish to adorn the surprisingly neat job I had made of the apples, I sprinkled a little more cinnamon over the top after I had brushed them with melted butter.

 

This was such a joyous dessert; and amazingly easy to assemble make. And apples, sugar and flaky pastry is never, ever wrong. If you find yourself in a bit of a dessert bind, free yourself with this beautiful thing...

 

French Apple Tart, adapted from 'My Life in the Kitchen' by Michel Roux Jnr

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum, Dad and four others

 

Ingredients:

 

1 box of ready rolled all butter puff pastry

2 to 3 tbsp. of apple compote/apple sauce

1/2 - 1tsp of sugar to taste.

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 to 4 cox or Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced very thinly (put the slices into acidulated water whilst prepping the pastry to prevent the slices turning brown).

20g melted butter

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

beaten egg, to glaze before baking.

2 tbsp. of apricot jam, warmed, to glaze the tart

 

Method:

 

 

 

Unroll the pastry and cut a circle, using a dinner plate to cut around. Crimp the pastry to create an edge and then turn the pastry over. Apparently according to Michel Roux Jnr, this helps the layers to puff better, and let's face it, if anyone is going to know, it's him.

 

Dock the pastry with a fork.

 

 

 

Spoon the compote/sauce over the base of the pastry, leaving about a centimetre around the edge of the pastry.

 

Sprinkle over the sugar and the cinnamon over the compote.

 

 

 

Arrange the apples in neat circles on top of the compote, maintaining the centimetre around the edge of the tart.

 

 

 

Brush the apples with melted butter and sprinkle a little more sugar and cinnamon over the apples if desired. (I tasted the apples to see how they were sour they were; that determined my decision).

 

Brush the edge of the tart with the egg wash and place on the preheated tray. Bake in the oven for about 20/25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden, the apples yield easily to the tip of a knife and are starting to colour a little.

 

pre glaze!!

 

Leave to cool somewhat, then glaze with the warmed apricot jam.

 

 

 

I served this with homemade vanilla ice cream because I like to show off.

 

 

 

 

 

My pantry provides - Peach tart

I am using 'pantry' in the loosest sense of the word, as I haven't got a proper pantry, just a few cupboards and general nooks and crannies that hold stuff that I need to use up. Regular visitors might be aware that I am going to France soon (Did I mention it already? Really?) and that I am buying as little as possible in terms of groceries and instead am making good the stuff that I already have. My aim is to clear the cupboards so that I can fill them up again with lots of lovely French stuff when I return from holiday.

Talking of France, the puff pastry which is the basis of this impromptu tart was bought on my last trip there and was, frankly, a bargain. I should have bought more. Along with some peaches, which I bought cheaply from the supermarket a week or so ago and have been kept in my fridge ever since I was sure that there was a quick, easy and pretty scrumptious pudding betwixt the two. So, educated guesswork began.

This pudding is really simple, especially if you buy the puff pastry. I know you can make it, and I have made it, but, do you know, sometimes life is too short, and if you buy a good quality buttery pastry you will have no cause for complaints. All that time folding and rolling and folding could be spent on other, more pleasurable, activities in my opinion.

Skinning peaches is also dead easy. I haven't shown it here but what I do is make a slight criss cross in the skin at the bottom of the peach, place it into boiling water for about 30 - 40 seconds, then take it out and plunge it into cold water to stop the cooking process, then take it out and peel. The skin slips off with ease. As easy as this tart is, as it happens.

Peach tart

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad twice

Ingredients

One sheet of (all butter) puff pastry

5 - 6 peaches, depending on size (my advice would be skin the peaches as you use them; don't skin them all at once in case you have a significant amount left over).

2 - 3 tbsp of sugar - depending on the sweetness of the peaches

a sprinkle of cinnamon

2 tbsp of warmed apricot jam, for glazing

Method.

Grease a baking tray and place your sheet of puff pastry on it.

Skin your peaches and then cut them into 'segments'. Mine were a little squishy so I did this by cutting around the peach first (hard to describe, but by making an incision from the top of the peach and letting the knife roll around the bottom of the peach, back up to the top of the peach again. Once that was done, I then cut the peach again to the size of segment that I wanted and flicked it out, away from the stone).

Place your peach segments in a uniform pattern on the pastry, ensuring that you leave about 1/2 inch or so around the edge of the pastry.

Once the peach segments are in place, scatter the sugar on the peaches and sprinkle a little cinnamon also. Place the tart in a preheated oven, about 180c, for about 30 minutes, but check every so often. The tart is ready when the pastry is golden and the peaches are yielding and beginning to caramelise a little.

Whilst the tart is warm, carefully brush over the warmed apricot jam (I zapped my jam in the microwave for about 20 seconds or so) over the fruit.

Serve warm with cream or ice cream, and, here's a thing... any leftovers you can have for breakfast. The tart has a danish pastry kinda feel to it when cold. Delicious!