This recipe is what I would call an everyday apple tart. It suits perfectly a simple family dinner, it is light and brings a nice finish to dinner. It is pretty simple to make, once you got the shortcrust pastry right. If you want to know more about pastries and their uses, I wrote a post some time ago on tartes.
For 6 people. Preparation, 15 min. Baking time 30 min.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
50 g of butter softened
100 g of plain flour
some cold water (about 1/4 glass – see recipe)
For the filling:
2 large apples (or 3-4 smaller ones)
sugar
and possibly (see options below 1 egg, some milk or cream, almond meal, butter and brown sugar)
Method
Prepare the pastry, by rubbing the soft butter and the flour together until all of the butter sticks to the flour. Add water little at the time to obtain an homogenized ball. Rest for at least half an hour at room temperature. if you need a bit more support, CLICK HERE, where I detail the process with photos. Roll the pastry and place in the tart tin (no need to butter/flour it, it will not stick)
Preheat oven to 180ºC.
Quarter the apples, peel and core them. Cut into further smaller quarters. Place in a circular pattern.
From here, you have 2 options for the finish, I do either or and like both.
OPTION A : sprinkle coarse white sugar and add a few nuts of butter, then lace in the oven.
OPTION B : mix one egg, half a cup of milk (or cream if not faint hearted), 2 spoons of brown sugar together and pour between fruits pieces. You may also add one tablespoon of almond meal. It is not critical for apples but is necessary if you use other fruits such as pears.
Bake for about 1/2 h, the sides must be golden, if you feel it is going too quickly reduce the oven to 160ºC.
Apple tarte fine means thin apple tart. The reason it has this name is due to the elegance of the dish, yet it remains such a simple dessert. There is slightly more work involved in the preparation of the tarte than a classic apple tarte. This is a traditional French tarte, most often found in bakeries. In Sydney, you can find some at Flour and Stone in Woolloomooloo or on market days at Orange Grove and Everleigh market (where Flour and Stone have a stall). There are probably other places.
The tart consists of puff pastry, apples, butter and sugar (very little). You may find some versions with Calvados, feel free to indulge. The recipe below is mine and remains simple.
Serves 6-8
Preparation – 30 min
Cooking – 30 min
Ingredients:
4 large apples
1 quantity of puff pastry (2/3 of the pastry obtained by my recipe here for a 37 cm diameter round tray – I use my pizza tray, alternatively use some commercial butter puff pastry)
About 50 g butter
Icing sugar (2 tablespoons)
Good quality redcurrent, apricot or strawberry jam (any of the first two is better) – for the shiny finish, optional
Method:
Preheat oven to 170 ºC (150 forced fan)
On a very lightly floured work bench, roll the puff pastry to a 5 mm thickness, place on baking paper on your baking sheet (no need to use a tart tin).
Delineate with the point of a knife the centre from the edge. With a fork, make holes using the teeth of the fork, as on the photo below. This will prevent the puff pastry from “blooming” underneath the apples.
Peel and core one apple, cut in small size dices, place in a saucepan with about 1/2 cup of water and cook until just tender. This will make a small apple puree to place below the apple, I find it gives the tart a better finish. You may have to adjust the water as it will depend on your fire and saucepan.
Smear the pastry centre with the apple puree (there will be left over most likely). Melt the butter and mix with 2 tablespoon of icing sugar. Brush all the exposed parts of the pastry generously.
Peel the remaining apples and core them without cutting through the fruits. You will now cut very thin discs of apple along the horizontal axis of the fruit. Once you have cut the whole apple, cut the circles in the middle so to get two piles of semi-circles.
With you hands pan out one pile of apple semi-circle at the time and place on the pastry. Repeat until all is covered leaving the edges exposed. Brush the remaining butter mix over the apples.
Cook for up to 30 minutes, decreasing the heat after 5 minutes to 160ºC. The tart’s edges will quickly become golden, no panic, keep baking at slow heat as you also want a bit of colour on the fruits and want the underneath of the pastry cooked.
In the meanwhile, prepare the final glazing. Place 2 spoon of jam in a bowl and add a few spoons of boiling water (2 to 4 depending on the jams) until you have consistency liquid enough to brush the tarte with. Alternatively, do this in a small saucepan on the stove.
Once the tart is out of the oven and still hot, brush over the fruits (not the edges!) the jam glaze. Be cautious to only put a thin layer.
Tarts are a bit like salads, there can be one for every day. Tarts can be a lunch main item or family diner main or a side. Tarts are very versatile. There are the “every day tarts” and the “special occasion tarts”. They can be served simply in the tart dish or on a serving dish.
The pastry
The three main pastry types are:
The shortcrust pastry (pate brisée)
The sweet shortcrust pastry (pate sablée), and
The puff pastry (pate feuilletée)
From there, there are many variations especially when it gets to the sweet shortcrust pastry when used as a base for cakes.
The shortcrust pastry is by far the most commonly used. Many people are surprised when they learn that it is used for savoury and sweet tarts. It is much better homemade, and can be done in advance. You can also make a larger quantity and keep in the fridge for a few days or freeze in portions of 150 to 200 grams.
Shortcrust pastry consists solely of flour, half the weight of the flour of butter and a bit of water, I will add the method later.
The shortcrust pastry is most commonly used for strawberry tarts, lemon tarts and chocolate tarts. I use the same recipe to make shortbread biscuits for the kids. I have never tried a bought version (yes, this means that it is that easy!).
The puff pastry requires a bit more time and technique but it is not hard and I find it quite fun to make. I have now made it a few times. I make a large batch, cut into portions and freeze. Depending on where you live, you may find some good ones at the supermarket, but watch out for the ingredients, it should contain butter and not margarine.
Savoury Tarts
The most known of the savoury tarts is the quiche. A quiche is essentially based on eggs and cream. If you add bacon dices (lardons), it is a quiche Lorraine. The quiche Lorraine is a children favourite! The steamed broccolini on the photo was added after cooking purely for decoration! I had served the quiche with a few bunches of steamed broccolini. With the quiche, I love a cheese quiche and an Asian mushroom quiche: I love using Asian mushrooms and placing them as if doing a landscape on a large quiche, they also taste great!
Funki quiche…
I also love and often make the following:
red-pepper (capsicum) tart. It is quite light. Salty with the sweetness of the capsicum.
a spinach tart. This is a perfect dinner dish.
an onion tart. Handy when you run out of fresh food, there are always a few onions around.
a “flamiche” or leek tart, really delicious, this is a specialty from Northern France.
a mustard and tomato tart
Red capsicum tart
I use the puff pastry with onions or when doing a light tomato tart. Puff pastry can also come handy if it comes already rolled or ready to roll (i.e. no need making a shortcrust pastry).
Sweet Tarts
Fruit tarts are often made using the shortcrust pastry, typically apple tarts and pear tarts for an everyday meal would be done so. The elaborate version of apple tart / pear tart may use puff pastry or a sweet shortcrust pastry (or variation of). The simple fruit tart is very easy: roll your pastry, place in the tart tin (no need to butter the tin by the way), cut your fruits in slices, place them in a round shape. You can choose to just add a couple of nuts of butter and a bit of sugar or a small mix made of one egg, 1/2 cup of milk or cream and a bit of sugar. For those fruits like pears that typically give away a lot of juice, you will need to add 1 big tablespoon of almond meal. The almond meal will soak up the juice and prevent a soaked pastry at the bottom of the tart.
Fruit tarts are a great use of fruits which are very ripe or need to be used rapidly. It is a double hit: you don’t throw away those fruits and your family gets desert!
For a simple strawberry tart, prepare a sweet shortcrust pastry, place it in the tin by either rolling it or by pushing it into the tart tin with your fingers. Make dots with a fork on the basis to prevent the formation of bubbles, cook until lightly golden. Place strawberries on top and brush them with red currant or apricot jam warmed and slightly diluted with water. A more elaborate version would be to add a layer of creme patissière below the strawberries. Pastry shops which may prepare the tart more in advance than you would at home, often add again another layer (sponge or almond-based) to soak up liquids and prevent the pastry to become soggy.
Simple strawberry tart
Lemon tarts come in two kinds: the one where the lemon filling cooks into the tart and the ones where the lemon curd is made ahead. For the one alike a quiche, I like Julie Goodwin’s lemon and lime tart recipe.
Pastry left over….
And if there are small pastry left over, you can:
Shortcrust pastry
Make one or several tartlets with fruits from the fruit basket or frozen berries. Alternatively, you can put some jam in the tartlets.
Do an afternoon tea for the kids: place the scarp together, roll, place on baking paper, put a bit of brown sugar on top. An option is to add a drizzle of thickened cream. Then bake on a tray.
Sweet shortcrust pastry
Make a ball, roll to 6 mm thick, use a shape or a kitchen glass to make biscuits, place on a baking sheet and bake.
Puff pastry
Place leftover puff pastry on a tray, pre-cut them in long strips and grate cheese on top, you can also add chilli, ground coriander or fresh herbs. It will make a good appetizer.
Another use for puff pastry leftover is to push them down a buttered muffin tin and fill with creme patissière (assuming you have some handy), egg-wash the sides, sprinkle a bit of sugar on top of the egg-wash and bake.
