Servings: 8-10
Source: “From Julia Child’s Kitchen”
11” tart pan with removable bottom
a pastry brush
Ingredients
Pâte brisée recipe in a tart pan
Either:
· 5 firm, crisp cooking apples such as Golden Delicious apples
· 5 or 6 firm, ripe unblemished pears
1/2 cup apricot glaze (described below)
¼ cup sugar
Directions
Roll out Pâte brisée to ~13”. Roll on your pin, and drape into 11” tart pan. Preheat oven to 425° degrees. Peel and core the fruit, and cut into thin (~3/8”), even, lengthwise slices, preferably using an apple corer/slicer machine or mandoline. Paint the inside of the shell with a thin coating of the glaze. Arrange the slices of fruit in an overlapping series of rows over the bottom of the shell, and sprinkle on the sugar. Bake in middle level of oven until sides feel crisp, about 40 minutes. When done, paint both fruit and tart edges with the glaze. Slide tart onto board or tray, if you are serving it hot or warm, or onto a rack if you are serving it cold, later.
Apricot and Currant Glazes
That which glitters on a French fruit tart is apricot jam or red currant jelly, boiled briefly with sugar until it is sticky enough to adhere to the fruit. The glaze is also painted on the inside of the pastry shell to act as an edible waterproof coating.
To make apricot glaze, rub about a cupful of apricot preserves through a sieve into a saucepan, stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar, and boil for several minutes until last drops falling from spoon are thick and sticky and make a thread when taken between your thumb and forefinger (228 degrees). (It won’t burn you – have a cup of cold water beside you, and dip your fingers into it first; professionals simply lick their fingers before taking up the syrup.) Set the glaze over hot water until you are ready to use it; any that is left over will keep in a screw-top jar. (If glaze seems too thick and sticky when you are about to use it, thin out with droplets of hot water.)
Make red currant glaze the same way, but no prior straining is needed.
“From Julia Child’s Kitchen”