Tarts can transport you anywhere.

Gareth says…

Tarts are something that feel at home no matter the context. I’ve eaten tarts in a paddock at a Sunday morning farmers’ market, in Michelin-starred restaurants and everywhere in between. There is something so familiar and so comforting about delicious things nestled in pastry, whether it’s soft, creamy custard; fluffy, moist cake; sticky-sweet poached fruits; or crisp, flaky crumble. Tarts can transport you anywhere.

They were one of the first things I learned to cook as an 18-year-old in my home town of Bowral, NSW. My passion for classical cooking was nurtured by some close mentors, and with it came the satisfaction you feel when you can perfectly execute a recipe with historical and cultural relevance.

This particular recipe is loosely based on a streuselkuchen that I used to make with my mum. Crumble, soft apples and a moist cinnamon cake: I used to enjoy making this more than I enjoyed eating it. As someone with not much of a sweet tooth, that much has not changed.

We were never really a culinary family, but I always felt drawn to the kitchen. We were a family of seven kids, so mealtimes always felt more functional than celebratory, and even baking served a purpose of filling the lunchboxes or preparing a spread for an afternoon tea.

This tart has a real warmth to it. The depth of colour required to really drive home the caramel flavour in the apples is the most important part of this recipe – both in the jam and the poached fruit. This subtle bitterness has such a warming quality that when paired with the slight acidity in the jam and the salty sweet taste of the crumble, it becomes more than the sum of its parts, especially when served warm with ice cream.

Tarts Anon: Sweet and Savoury Tart Brilliance, by Gareth Whitton with Catherine Way, is out now.

 

Spiced Apple Crumble Tart

 

Ingredients

For the Pastry

200g plain flour
100g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
3g salt
50g ice-water

For the Poached Apples

200g Jazz apples
450g white caster sugar
120g butter
10g salt
120g verjuice
350g apple juice

For the Apple Jam

250g Jazz apples
270g white caster sugar
3g pectin jaune
4g citric acid
15g water

For the Cinnamon Batter

115g brown butter
115g egg
60g sugar
70g brown sugar
100g natural almond meal
2g salt
2g cinnamon
2g baking powder
55g plain flour

For the Crumble

60g butter
150g flour
20g feuilletine
85g brown sugar
2g salt
Icing sugar and cinnamon to serve 

Method

For the pastry, place the cold butter, flour and salt in a stand mixer or food processor. (This can also be done by hand.) Work the ingredients together until they resemble fine breadcrumbs, and no lumps of butter are present. Be sure not to overwork.

Add the ice-water, a little at a time, until it forms a firm but malleable mixture. (If you are using a food processor, best finish this off by hand.) Work it into a round puck shape and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Using a rolling pin and two pieces of baking paper, roll out the pastry into a circle, roughly 35cm wide and 3mm thick. Allow the pastry to firm up in the fridge for about 20 minutes before lining the shell.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC.

Remove the baking paper, wind the pastry around a rolling pin, and drape over a 25cm x 3.5cm fluted tart tin.

Gently lift the edges of the pastry and press into the corners of the tin. Trim the excess with a sharp knife. Put this trim aside and allow the pastry to sit for 15 minutes or so for one final rest.

Take two large sheets of foil and press into the corners of the pastry, ensuring the sheet is big enough to go over the edges and completely line the tart. Fill it to the brim with pastry weights.

Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until the edges of the pastry are a nice medium golden colour. Remove from the oven and remove the weights when cool enough to touch.

Preheat the oven to 165°C.

Start by making the poached apples. Peel, then cut in half. Then, cut into wedges approximately 2cm thick (about 10 slices per apple).

Place a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add enough sugar to cover the bottom of the saucepan and allow it to melt into an amber colour. Once it starts to bubble and all the sugar has dissolved, repeat the first step with the same amount of sugar and continue until all the sugar has been used.

Add the butter and the salt, and whisk until the butter has fully incorporated. Add the verjuice and the apple juice and bring to a boil. Drop in all the apples, ensuring you don’t overcrowd the pan, and return to the boil.

Turn the heat down and allow to simmer very gently until all the wedges have started to take on the colour of the caramel, but with a raw spot in the centre. Remove them from the heat and allow them to sit in the caramel in the fridge until they have cooked through and absorbed the poaching liquid.

For the apple jam, peel, core and finely cut the apples. Take 70g of the sugar and mix thoroughly with the pectin before setting aside.

Then, make a caramel with the remaining sugar in the same manner as the poached apples. Once the caramel is a medium brown, add the apples and stir them through the caramel. Turn the heat down and allow the apples to collapse and their water to be released.

Mix the citric acid with the water and set it aside. Use a whisk to break up the fruit, and bring to a boil. Add the pectin mixture and continue to cook until it reaches 106°C. Add the citric acid solution. Allow this apple jam mixture to set in a container in the fridge.

To make the cinnamon batter, start by melting the brown butter. If too hot, this can cook the egg mixture, so a thermometer is useful (aim for roughly 100ºC).

Place the egg and sugar together in a bowl. Slowly whisk to combine the two until the sugar has dissolved. Sieve the remaining dry ingredients into a separate bowl and stir them together.

Once the butter is on temperature and the sugar has dissolved, slowly pour the butter into the egg and sugar mixture, ensuring it’s well combined. Then whisk in the dry ingredients, leaving no lumps.

To make the crumble, melt the butter and combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Slowly add in the butter and mix until a medium crumble texture forms. Let this chill in the fridge so that it is easier to handle later. Once it can be crumbled up into uniform pebbles, bake it on a tray lined with paper for 15 minutes at 150ºC. Allow to cool before breaking up into a nice crumble.

To assemble the tart, spread 160g of apple jam over the base of the tart shell, and arrange the apples into three concentric circles, ensuring that there is enough space between for the batter to come into contact with the jam layer.

Pour the batter over the top of the apples and make sure that all the apple pieces are under the surface. Evenly sprinkle 200g of crumble over the top of the tart and gently press into the batter.

Place the tart into the oven for 30 minutes or until the crust is an even golden brown and the centre of the tart is firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool inside the shell.

Once the cooked batter has completely cooled, cut the tart into slices and dust with a light coating of icing sugar and cinnamon.

Published in Ed#719