When we bought our house almost eight years ago, it came with an apple tree. I remember we hadn’t lived here long and my niece Alexa was over and she was picking apples and the next thing I knew she had Chef making apple crisp. To be honest, she really seemed like the only one enamored enough to go pick them.
In years passed, the deer where the only ones that benefited. They would be high up in the tree eating apples. Spring a year ago, we fenced our back yard, so the deer had gone, but I had noticed there was very little fruit on the neglected tree, so I decided to prune it and see what would happen.
Yesterday, Chef came to see me in the vegetable garden – which for the record isn’t having the best season, but that’s a whole different can of worms – and he pointed out that the apples looked like they could be close to picking. That got my wheels turning. I was really bummed that when I went to the garden hardly any of the green tomatoes that have been there for weeks had turned, so making a tomato tart was not going to be an option. I hatched a plan.
Chef had suggested how fun it would be to let the boys pick the apples. I agreed. I was already thinking if we got a bunch I could make batches of apple sauce and freeze it. By the time we ran a few errands, the boys could not have seemed less interested. While I thought it would be a fun photo op too – my faithful instagram and facebook followers read this on Sunday, “This year taught me keeping my expectations grounded in reality makes this life so much easier to live,” and with that in mind, I knew there was no way the boys would want to pick apples. At least not yesterday afternoon while I took their pictures. C’est la vie.
The apples got me thinking about this dessert Chef used to make at Tersiguel’s when I first started working there sixteen (gulp!) years ago. I wanted to make something similar because I always thought it was beautiful to look at, and tasted amazing. Here is the kicker – it had caramel sauce on it. We will come back to that.
A behind the scene fun fact about Chef’s pro kitchen – there is only one pro, Chef. He is an exceptional teacher and trainer in his craft. He is enthusiastic about cooking, and wants everyone in his kitchen to feel the same way. Our staff right now is pretty seasoned, they have been around a while and you can really see their confidence and skill set grow. Rule Number 1 (if Chef had them numbered) might be: Before you learn to cook, you have to learn to hold and use a knife. Although now that I think about it, Rule Number 1 really might be: Cleanliness is next to godliness, so keep it clean. And the knife would be Rule Number 2.
I write all this because as I was peeling and coring the apples:
Chef offered to slice the apples for me. I knew he could do it much faster and the apples would be much more uniform, but I knew I really needed the knife practice. And one of the best ways to practice, is thin, uniform cuts, in this case slices.
Peeps – I am not kidding when I say, thank you it was only 8 apples. I looked at Chef and was like “that was a lot of work.” He said, “Touche la manger.” He rarely busts out the French, but to translate, “Touch the food.” A less literal translation, “You have to touch, to learn.” And it’s sooo true when it comes to cooking and baking.
Once all the apples were sliced I coated them in fresh squeezed lemon juice and a bit of sugar. I rolled out one sheet of puff pastry, that I did not take a photo of. Whoops. Then I started lining up the apples.
This design was Chef inspired. My first go had me in rows, but he said, “You know you could turn them.” Once I got all the apples laid out, I sprinkled with a bit more sugar, and coated the edges of the puff pasty in melted butter. Next time I would use an egg, but I was a bit distracted, and already had some butter melted.
Into the oven she went, and forty minutes, and a dusting of powder sugar later.
I could have just eaten this for dinner, alone. Alas, I did not.
When Chef prepared this, it came with caramel sauce, and cinnamon ice cream. Uh, I was not making ice cream last night, but this was definitely inspiring me to get to it. I plated mine up a little differently, but let’s be honest, I wasn’t serving this to paying guests in a French restaurant, I was serving it to Chef in our dining room.
After almost all the bites, I said, “I made this sauce, and I followed the directions, but when you eat it alone, the texture of all the sugar is on your tongue.”
He asked me about the recipe. It is from In The Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley, and this is the link to her amazon affiliate. So I told him. There isn’t a link on the internet and I don’t have permission to reprint, but I will work on my own version and see what I can come up with. Or you can be more sane and walk down the ice cream topping aisle and grab some.
“Huh, so you didn’t put the sugar in water?”
“No, that’s not what the recipe called for.”
“Probably a good thing. Caramel can be very dangerous to make. You are caramelizing sugar and adding heavy cream to it. You can’t lean over the pot because the steam will burn you and you need a big pot, so it can boil up to the top and not explode.”
And now I know why he no longer makes it. Rule Number 3: be safe.
Apple Tart
1 sheet of puff pastry, brought to room temperature
8 baking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
juice of one lemon
1/3 cup of sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
egg wash
Powder sugar and whip cream for garnish
Caramel syrup, if you dare
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Toss the apple slices, sugar, and lemon juice to coat.
Roll out the puff pastry to a 12″ x 12″ square. Carefully line the puff pastry with apples. Before putting into oven, use a pastry brush and rub egg wash on the outer edges of the puff pastry. Sprinkle the apples with the final tablespoon of sugar.
Bake for 40 minutes.
Sprinkle with powder sugar, and serve with your choice of whipped cream, ice cream, or caramel.
[…] one, it’s a stretch, but it’s important. You have to know kitchen cooking basics, like how to hold a knife, and when to add salt and pepper to a recipe, and you need basic building blocks or building […]