Au Française!

 Next stop on the culinary express; Madeleines!

It would appear that Madeleines rose to fame due to Proust namedropping them in his ‘Remembrance of Things past’. The quote goes: “I raised to my lips a spoonful of the cake . . . a shudder ran through my whole body and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place." Essentially he eats a piece of Madeleine and it instantly takes him back to his childhood. This scene has been parodied many times in various mediums. Most notably for me was when Tony Soprano takes a bite of a cured meat and is instantly flooded with childhood memories.

There are numerous sources out there on how to make an authentic Madeleine. I’ll get to that in my next post, but for now I’m going to talk about baking utensils. This is the first time that I’ve had to acquire a Madeleine pan, and in my entire window shopping, the most common pan I came across was these multi-coloured Silicone pans that seem to have become very fashionable. On several occasions, whilst browsing through the homeware departments I very nearly picked one up. However, after a bit of research I became more dubious and opted for a metal one. The main reason why I went against Silicone for my Madeline pan was because of the probable wobble factor when putting it in the oven. Silicone kitchen utensils do have their uses, and would probably be just fine for a baking tray or a larger cake mould but the balancing act of getting a soft pan filled with liquid into the oven just seems unnecessary to me. There were suggestions of placing a metal baking tray underneath the Silicone Madeline Pan, but I think this may alter the cooking time, and as the tray would be cool, could even distort the final result and colour. I think I made the right decision, but we shall see what the final result is.

Altogether now On Y Va!

Oh yes please…

Researching Apple Pies has got me thinking about what makes a ‘good’ apple pie. If you come from Europe, Australia or North America, you’ve probably been raised on one form of Apple Pie or another and what I’ve concluded is that there is no one thing that makes a great apple pie and that really it’s all down to personal taste, what you’ve grown up with and nostalgia.

This Apfeltorte is very different from Mum and Dad’s Apple Pie; a fantastic deep filled, tangy pudding, laced with cloves and served with lashings of pouring cream. Yum!

Albeit a far cry from my nostalgia of Apple Pie, Apfeltorte is really and truly fantastic. The buttery short crust pastry stays crisp and the Granny Smiths keep the dessert tart without feeling like a heavy winter Apple Pie.

A word about the pastry… This is a great recipe for short crust pastry that I’ve been using for a few years. Try to keep everything as cold as possible when making it. Don’t worry about it too much but don’t make it over a preheating oven or beside a radiator! It’s a fantastic pastry for making Mince Pies too!

It’s a very sophisticated sweet, just light enough for Summer, and would be perfect as an alternative to a tea cake or could be made into miniature tarts, just lower the baking time slightly.

Here’s how I made it:

- 230g Flour
- 130g Unsalted Butter diced
- 1 level tablespoon Icing Sugar
- Salt
- 1 Large Egg yolk
- Cold Water
- 1 Kg Granny Smith (or similar) Apples
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 50g unsalted butter

 Shallow cake tin, about 22cm in diameter.

• Sift the Flour, Salt and Icing Sugar into a bowl.
• Put the diced butter in to the bowl and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Remember to keep a very light hand here, don’t let the butter melt in your hands and try to get plenty of air in to the mix. This step can also be done in a food processer.
• In a measuring jug, whisk the egg yolk and fill with cold water up to the 50ml level.
• Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and add the Yolk/Water mixture.
• Bring this together slowly with your hands.
• Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly for a few seconds.
• Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes.
• In the meantime, peel, core and slice the Apples.
• If you are worried about them turning brown (whilst waiting for your dough to chill), cover them with a little bit of lemon juice.
• Preheat your oven to 200C.
• Lightly grease your tin with butter and then lightly dust it with flour.
• When your pastry is cool enough, roll it out to fit your tin.
• Fill the pastry with the Apple slices.
• Mix the Granulated Sugar and Cinnamon together and cover the apples with it.
• Dot the tops of the Apples with the remaining butter.
• Place in preheated oven and bake for about half an hour or until pastry is brown and apples are just soft.
• Allow to cool slightly.
• Serve with cream, ice-cream, mascarpone, or whatever you like……


10 down, 17 to go…

Luxembourg…

Well this Apfeltorte has in many ways been the most difficult recipe to put together. Mostly because, countless countries have their own version of what “Apple Tart” is, and indeed some countries even have several.

It would appear that Luxembourgian Apfeltorte is a tart as opposed to a pie and the apples are arranged in a decorative fan-like way on top of the pastry with no additional pastry on top.

In traditional British Isles’ Apple pies, cakes and tarts, one would usually use a very ‘tart’ or sour apple such as a bramble, however I would imagine that the Luxembourgian Apple Tart is somewhat influenced by the French ‘Tart Tartin’ or similar. Therefore I have chosen a slightly sweeter apple (Granny Smith) in making this sweet. The Granny Smith is still fairly sour yet it has a sweeter aftertaste than the Bramble or ‘Cooking Apple’.

There are countless types of pastry that can be used in making an Apple Tart, but judging from the pictures of Apfeltorte I found on google.lu I have decided to go for a sweet shortcrust pastry that hopefully will turn out nice and crisp.

Number 10, lets go!!!