As American as ... Tarte aux pommes

One of the pleasures of working in France is that if I step out of the office to pick up a Pariscope, help students buy their first Navigo Découverte for the transportation system, or grab a coffee, I can always stop in at a bakery, usually “Manon” to pick up a little something. A mid-morning nibble might be one of their specialty petits pains, a crunchy multi-grain roll studded with dried fruit and nuts or, at the other end of the caloric scale, a chocolate pistachio brioche. My favorite goûter, because the desire, if not the need, for an afternoon snack does not end with childhood, is one of their tartes fines. A pleasingly large disc of the thinnest possible puff pastry crust supports a hint of compote and mandoline-worthy slices of apple. The tartelettes are sprinkled with sugar before baking and the resulting caramelized glaze invariably sidles off the edges creating satisfying patches of peripheral sugary crunch. Apples are the defining fruit of the tarte fine genre, but in season, prefer the tart-sweet flavors of the tarte fine aux abricots. The ladies of Manon may also ask if you would like the tarte chauffée, or warmed. Oui, s’il vous plait!

Aux Désirs de Manon, 129 rue St Antoine, 4^th, M : St. Paul. Open daily, 7am – 10pm.

When in Paris, I don’t do a lot of baking because it’s so convenient and usually tastier to pick up a gâteau, a tarte or an assortment of delicacies from one of my favorite bakeries. However, the local bakery/home baker competition is not nearly as stiff in San Diego, and sometimes it’s just as easy, and often better, to bake at home. A tarte fine is simple and assuming that you always have a box of puff pastry in the freezer, you may even have the ingredients on hand to make a few tartes before dinner. Vary the fruit according to availability. Apricots, plums and pears work well. I’ve also had delicious red grapefruit tartes fines (increase the sugar accordingly). 

In France, you’ll find several brands of ready-made pastry dough in supermarkets, both pâte brisée and pâte feuilletée. I prefer all butter pastries, such as the Marie, Croustipate or Picard brands. Look for the pur beurre, all butter, label. You won’t have as much choice in the U.S. The widely available Pepperidge Farm puff pastry is made with vegetable shortening and the usual list of chemical ingredients. Trader Joe’s has an all-butter puff pastry that I haven’t yet tried, but it gets excellent online reviews.

I use individual tart pans with removable bottoms, but you can also cut out 4”/10cm rounds and place them on a baking sheet or Silpat mat. I always blind bake (pre-bake) tarts to avoid soggy crusts. Normally I would use pie weights to prevent uneven puffing, but with these tarts I like the rustic look.   

© 2012 K-Rae Nelson

Tarte Fine aux Pommes

Makes 6 individual tartes

2 Tbs. butter, melted

1 sheet (8 oz./250g) puff pastry, thawed overnight in refrigerator
3 granny smith apples, peeled, quartered, cored, sliced thinly

Juice of ½ lemon

½ cup applesauce
2 Tbs. blackberry jam (or whatever jam you have available), warmed and strained
6 blackberries, optional
3 Tbs. raw sugar (also known as demerara and turbinado sugar, and cassonade in French)
2 Tonka beans, optional
1 scant tsp. Nepalese Timut or Sechuan pepper, optional

-          Preheat oven to 400°F/220°C on convection setting if applicable.

-          Prepare tart pans, if using. Brush the bottoms and sides with melted butter. If using a Silpat mat or parchment paper, brush the surface with melted butter in 4”/10cm circles.

-          Remove puff pastry from the refrigerator. Let soften for 10 minutes or so. If the dough is folded in thirds, remove one of the thirds and place on floured surface. This will make 2 tartes. Sprinkle the dough and the rolling pin (or wine bottle as the case may be) with flour. Roll out the dough into a very thin rectangle, turning several times. Cut in half. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Line each tart tin with a square of dough. Pinch and flute the dough to fit the tart tin. Or, cut and shape the dough into rounds or leave as squares. I place each tin in the freezer as I go to keep the dough cool. If not using the tins, place the buttered parchment paper or Silpat mat on a cookie sheet and put the entire sheet into the freezer (or refrigerator, if there is no space).

-          While dough is chilling and then tart bottoms are pre-baking, peel, core and thinly slice the apples. Toss with the lemon juice (or substitute with Calvados).  

-          After dough has chilled for ten minutes in freezer, remove and place tins or cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 5 – 7 minutes until puffed and just beginning to turn golden. Ovens vary enormously so check every couple of minutes to avoid over-cooking.

-          Remove the tart bottoms or disks from the oven. Spread with a thin layer of applesauce and top with the thinly sliced apples. Lay the apple slices in a circular pattern or tightly packed in rows if you’re feeling low on aesthetic energy.

-          Paint tarts with the syrup of the warmed jam. You can strain the jam or you can dip your brush in so as not to capture pieces of fruit as well. The idea is to have a light fruit glaze over the fruit.

-          Sprinkle a mixture of crushed Tonka beans and Nepalese Timut pepper, or another concoction of your choice, over the tarts. Top with a blackberry for contrast, if you like.

-          Liberally sprinkle the raw sugar over the tarts. This will create the crunchy caramelized effect.

-          Return the tarts to the oven and bake for 10 – 20 minutes depending on your oven. Set a timer for 7 minutes, then check for doneness and rotate pan/tins. Check regularly for doneness. The crust and fruit should be nicely browned and somewhat caramelized on top. When the fruit is cooked through and yields easily when pierced with a knife, remove from oven and let cool.

-          The tarts can be served warm from the oven or at room temperature. I prefer these tarts nature, but you can gild the lily with whipped cream, ice cream, or a caramel sauce if you like.

Tarte Tin and Tonka Beans © 2012 K-Rae Nelson

 

Vocabulaire/Vocabulary

C’est de la tarte ou du gâteau? Is it cake or pie?
pâte feuilletée/puff pastry
pâte brisée/butter pie crust
c'est pas de la tarte/it’s no picnic

The expression is almost always heard in the negative. You generally don’t hear ‘c’est de la tarte’ to express that something is easy, although dictionaries accept both usages.  For the English equivalent of ‘easy as pie’, the French use cake, as in c’est du gâteau.

C’est tarte/ridiculous and ugly

un chapeau vraiment tarte/a truly hideous hat

Filer une tarte à quelqu’un/give someone a wallop

            « La prof, elle lui a mis une tarte à Sandro, parce qu'il arrêtait pas de faire le con

en classe. » /The teacher smacked Sandro because he was being such a jerk in class. See www.dictionnairedelazone.fr, a contemporary French slang site.

Une tarte à la crème/stereotypical, a cliché (think Lucille Ball and cream pies to the face)