tarte aux pommes
The tarte aux pommes is a cousin of your classic American apple pie, just a bit fancier with a fresh twist. I whipped up this granny smith apple version for St. Patrick's Day.
Yield: One six inch tart
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 prepared tart shell
6 large granny smith apples
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp corn starch
1/2 lemon
Instructions
1. Peel and roughly chop three of the apples into pieces that are approximately half a centimeter cubed.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan and add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and corn starch, cook for about 8-10 minutes over medium heat, and then let cool.
3. Spread the apple filling into the tart shell, making a slight mound in the middle to give the finished tart some height.
4. Cut the remaining unpeeled apples into slices that are no more than 1/4 of a centimeter.
5. Arrange apple slices layer by layer on top of the filled tart shell, slowly making your way inward by following the curve of the mound of cooked apple filling.
6. Coat the finished tart with the juice from half a lemon to prevent browning.
Kitchen Notes: Having a mandoline in your kitchen tool arsenal makes slicing fruit in perfect proportions an easy, fun task, rather than a hellish nightmare.
Green granny smith apples have the perfect texture and flavor for this tart, but really you can use any variety of apple that has a relatively firm, crisp texture that won't break down when sliced thinly.
There are a couple of different ways you might arrange your apples for this kind of tart. Here, I started by laying them flat and slowly worked my way toward angling them perpendicularly to the surface of the tart. Alternatively, you could spread your filling flat across the tart shell and place the apple slices perpendicularly from the start. You'll end up using slightly more apple slices if you go with the first technique.
Since this was a St. Patrick's day tart, I decided to give it a lucky finish with some gold sheen food paint. I had every intention of keeping it subtle, but clearly that ship sailed before I could catch it. Happy St. Patrick's Day!