A Simple and Classic French Dessert

Seriously, this dessert is one of the most impressive combinations of simplicity and dining wow factor you can find. It's made from stuff that I already had in the house too -- butter, flour, sugar and apples. Nothing more.

 Ready for the oven.

At this time of year my stored homegrown apples are starting to look a bit wizened so I start to think about using them up. Clotilde Dusoulier of Chocolate and Zucchini posted a recipe recently for une Tarte fine caramélisée aux pommes (a Thin Caramelised Apple Tart) and it is a dish one encounters regularly in French restaurants, elegantly simple and delicious.

Out of the oven, now to sprinkle with sugar and flash under the grill.

I had a supply of rough puff pastry in the freezer left over from making steak and kidney pie, so all I had to do was peel and slice some apples, melt some butter and put it all together. Of course, there is a trick to it, but the trick is as simple as the rest of the recipe.

And this is what you get on your plate. Yum.

Here's how you do it:

Turn your oven on to 175°C. Line a flat oven tray with baking paper. Brush a rectangle on the paper with melted butter. Sprinkle it with sugar. Roll out the pastry to match, cut off any excess so it forms a neat rectangle and lay it carefully on top of the butter and sugar rectangle. Arrange the apple slices neatly on the pastry, leaving a border of about 1.5 cm all the way around the edge. Brush the apple and the pastry edge with melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle sugar on the tart and place under the grill for 2 minutes. The butter and sugar underneath and on top of the tart caramelises and takes this simple dessert to another level of sophistication. Serve warm or cooled to room temperature, cut into 6 squares and placed unadorned on side plates but maybe accompanied by a Vouvray moelleux. If you are feeling refined, eat it with a fork, but we just pick it up and eat it with our hands.

With thanks to Clotilde, who posted the original recipe, with step by step picture instructions. Mine doesn't look quite as elegant as hers as I was using up random sized apples. That's my excuse anyway.

Yum

***************************************************

Loire Valley Nature: A section on Harpalus spp has been added to the Ground Beetles Carabidae entry.
A photo has been added to the European Hornet Vespa crabro entry.
A new entry has been added for Bracket Fungi Polyporaceae.
A new entry has been added for Centipedes Chilopoda.

***********************************************

Advice Wanted: We are thinking of buying an android TV box/mini PC thingy to use as a 'media centre', principally allowing us to download television programmes and watch them at our leisure. This one seems good value. Does anyone have experience of using such a thing?