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To celebrate the autumn orchards, a puff pastry tart topped with the fruit of original sin, an English-style lemon curd, apples in their natural state and a caramel sauce that brings to mind old-fashioned Pierrot lollipops. Brittany is a land of apples; the Rance valley has many cider varieties and also eating apples which keep throughout the winter, though some endangered species are rarely replanted.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 Reine des Reinettes apples - 2 Granny Smith apples - 2 Golden Delicious apples - 2 Starkinson apples - 50 g puff pastry (2 oz) - 50 g walnuts (2 oz) 100 g sugar (4 oz) - 100 g heavy cream (4 oz) - 50 g butter (2 oz) - Juice of 3 lemons - 1 egg - 10 g cornstarch (1/3 oz) - 4 sprigs mint - 1 pinch cinnamon. Meticulous but fairly quick - You will need rings 5 cm wide and 7 cm high.
Basic preparation
Puff-pastry tart : make a small apple tart by filling a 10-cm ring with puff pastry. Peel and core the 2 Golden Delicious apples, then cut them into thin slices and arrange these on the pastry as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the tart with white sugar and small knobs of butter. Bake at 180 C (375 F, Gas 6).
Lemon curd : bring the juice of 2 lemons to a boil in a saucepan. Meanwhile, beat 1 egg with 20 g (2/3 oz) sugar in a bowl. Add 10 g (1/3 oz) cornstarch. Pour in the lemon juice, then cook like a crème pâtissière. Remove from heat and set aside in the refrigerator.
The apple cake : peel the 4 Reine des Reinettes apples and cut them into 8 segments. Heat a nonstick frying pan with 20 g (2/3 oz) butter and saute the apple slices until golden. Add 10 g (1/3 oz) sugar and the juice of 1 lemon, as well as a pinch of cinnamon. Once the apples are a deep golden colour, arrange them in aluminium rings 5 cm wide and 7 cm high. Finish cooking the apples in the oven at 180 C (375 C, Gas 6) for about 10 minutes.
Last minute
Caramel sauce: place 50 g (2 oz) sugar in a saucepan. Stirring with a wooden spatula, melt the sugar over low heat until it turns golden, being careful not to let it burn. Then add 10 g (1/3 oz) butter and 100 g (4 oz) heavy cream. Boil the caramel sauce for 1 minute. Warm the apple tart. Without peeling the Granny Smith apples, cut them into thin slices. Cut the Starkinson apples into sticks 2 mm (1/8 inch) wide.
To serve, place a spoonful of lemon curd on one side of the plate, then arrange the apple slices and sticks so that the apple salad has as much volume as possible. Sprinkle a few pieces of walnut on top. Cut the apple tart and place a slice on each plate, as well as the cake of sauteed apples. Drizzle the caramel sauce over the plate and decorate with a sprig of mint.
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© Olivier Roellinger - Maisons de Bricourt.
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