Angela Hartnett's apple tart
The inspiration for this fantastic tart came from the celebrated American chef Alice Waters who owns Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. I first ate there about 20 years ago, and have huge respect for Alice and everything she’s done at her restaurant. This is a French classic using a really short pastry topped with apples, quite similar to an apple galette. You could use apples, peaches or figs for this recipe – they all work really well. It’s important not to use fruit that’s too soft or too ripe as the pastry base takes a while to cook and you’d find yourself ending up with a fruit mush.
The Weekend Cook by Angela Hartnett (Bloomsbury Absolute, £26) is out now. Photography by Jonathan Lovekin.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas 5.
Step 2
In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Add the cubed butter and use your fingertips to rub it into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, with flecks of whole butter still visible (the pastry will be very short). Little by little, add the water, just enough until the pastry comes together into a ball – take care not to overwork it. Form the pastry into a ball and flatten it slightly, then wrap it in cling film and place it in the fridge to rest for 1 hour.
Step 3
Dust a large sheet of baking paper with flour. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll it out to a 25cm circle. Gently transfer the pastry circle to the baking tray and prick the base with a fork. Leave the pastry case to rest in the fridge while you prepare the apples.
Step 4
Peel, core and quarter the apples, then slice each quarter into about 6 pieces.
Step 5
Line the pastry case with apple slices, beginning around the outside edge and fanning the apples, slightly overlapping, in decreasing concentric circles towards the centre, until you have covered the bottom of the case. Brush the apples with the melted butter, then sprinkle over the sugar.
Step 6
Bake the tart for about 40 minutes, until the pastry edges and apple filling are golden brown. Sprinkle a little more sugar over the top and serve with vanilla ice cream or double cream.
