“Gone” into the Oven – Confessions of a Food-Obsessed Writer; The Apple Tart with Almond Crust, Salted Caramel and Creme Patissiere

image courtesy:ircamera.as.arizona.edu

This morning I was thinking about how invigorated I was – by the abundant sunshine, high pressure and light streaming into my kitchen, now that a lot of the leaves from the Sycamores are down.  A friend asked me if I woke up hungry this morning – huh? doesn’t everyone wake up with food on the brain?????  LOL!   I went to work early and the ideas came swirling in……..

Confession:  sometimes I think of myself as Alice in Wonderland, as I totally identify with the image of her going down into the rabbit hole of the unknown, succumbing to the alllure – and think of myself as such in terms of my rabbit hole being the oven – I took the dare, went head first into the addictive world of baking with all its intoxicating effects, creative potential and, fun! — and am destined never to return from the abyss……….

I remember fondly the first time I baked with my Mom……. the Vanilla Rolled Cookies from my prized possession – The Woman’s Home Companion Cookbook,  in her small and humble but oh so alive kitchen, and I was hooked.

Kept in a protective sleeve, here it is – with flour remnants, spills, notes and all:

     

As an example of my nuttiness, I was thinking about food as the first sip of coffee passed over my lips.  It wasn’t long after, well before 8am, that I had finished a good half hour scrubbing the remnants (and removing the top 5 layers of skin from my hands) of my overheated Turkey Chili from the bottom of my Le Creuset  so that I could begin my Roasted Pear and Applesauce.  It is now ready to come out of the oven – see my post from earlier today.  I have already settled on my entrée for dinner tonight:  http://www.forloveofthetable.com/2011/10/poulet-vallee-dauge-chicken-with.html

Now, a couple of hours later,  I’m getting ready to work on my apple tart with salted caramel by using an image I’ve had on my mind since Monday from one of my books:  La Dolce Vita – Sweet things from the Italian home kitchen by Ursula Ferrigno.

It’s not that I expect my apple tart to look like this, but this is what happens to me – I see one thing and my mind goes through certain iterations and I arrive at a new task that just sticks there, like glue, until I get to attempt it.  It’s like having post-it-notes with recipes all over your brain (that’s better than Alzheimer’s plaques, right?) I’ll take recipes any day…..

this is a terrific book – I highly recommend it!

A sudden chill descended onto the kitchen and, since I’m pretty much committed to working on this apple tart for several hours, I decided to start up a nice fire in the kitchen fireplace:

ok, now onto work:

  

  

THE APPLE TART WITH ALMOND CRUST AND SALTED CARAMEl AND CREME PATISSIERE

for the crust – recipe adapted from La Dolce Vita, page 50, Peach and Mascarpone Tart(sigh)

150g (5 1/2 oz) plain white or ‘OO’ Italian flour, plus extra for dusting

55g (2 oz) icing sugar

3 tblsp ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

115g (4 oz) unsalted butter,chilled and cut into cubes

1 egg beaten

To make pastry:  In the bowl of your food processor, pulse together the flour, icing sugar, almonds, baking powder, and salt together.  Add the cubed butter and pulse until it resembles a fine meal.  Add the egg and pulse just until the dough begins to form.  Remove to a work surface and bring together with your hands.  Roll out on a lightly floured surface and fit into a buttered tart pan, 9 1/2″ in diameter.  Chill for 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 10 minutes.  Cool. 

To Make Filling:  Make one recipe Creme Patisserie (Today I used Martha Stewart’s – http://www.marthastewart.com/315510/creme-patissiere).  Cool. 

Make one recipe Salted Caramel (recipe follows). 

Peel, core and slice 3 Ginger Gold Apples in thin slices.  Sprinkle with Lemon Juice and set aside. Toss with a light coat of cinnamon sugar. 

When crust is cool, spread a thin layer of the cooled caramel on the bottom of the crust, using about 1/2 of the caramel. 

Then spread about 1 1/ cups of the creme patisserie on top of the caramel, spreading with an offset spatula.  Arrange the apple slices around in a pinwheel pattern, filling in the center as well. Cover edge of crust with strips of aluminum foil to prevent burning.  Bake for 30 minutes or until apples are cooked through .  Remove tart from oven.  Cool to room temp, brush with a light coating of warmed melted apricot jam, thinned with a little water.  Let the jam set and drizzle the remaining caramel decoratively over the top, in a zig-zag pattern.

SALTED CARAMEL 

one cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tblsp unsalted butter

1/2 tsp grey sea salt or kosher salt

In a heavy saucepan over low heat dissolve sugar in water.  Turn heat up to medium and let the mixture cook until it turns to a medium amber color.  Remove immediately from the heat.  Stir in the heavy cream – it will bubble up.  Whisk in the butter.  Whisk in the salt.  Let cool to room temperature.

Enjoy!   This is what the end looks like.