Classic French Apple Tart

The apple harvest will soon be upon us, and already the trees are heavy with fruit. Arguably, one of the best ways of dealing with it, this recipe is for a dense puree of apples,with butter,lemon, cinnamon, and a dash of hooch, topped with thin slices of fruit, all in a crisp shortcrust pastry shell.

For two individual tarts.

Ingredients: 2 shortcrust pastry shells, approx 10 cm (4 inches) diameter; 4 medium apples (Gala, or Pink Lady, or Reinette, by preference, but really anything will do,as long as it isn't Bramleys or Golden Delicious); 1/4 cup sugar, + 1 tbs sugar; 2 tbs butter; grated zest and juice of half a lemon; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 3 tbs apricot jam; 1 tbs brandy. 

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Peel core and dice 3 of the apples; cook slowly in a small covered pan for about twenty minutes, until the fruit has more or less collapsed. Add all the remaining ingredients apart from the last apple, the tbs sugar, and 1 tbs of jam; raise the heat and cook, stirring, until you have a dense puree - this might take a further ten minutes; have a care, as the mixture can easily catch and burn!

3. Divide the puree between the pastry shells. Peel and core the remaining apple, and slice very thinly. Arrange the slices in a circle on top of each tart, and sprinkle with the remaining sugar before placing the tarts in the oven. Bake for about fifteen minutes, just until the edges of the slices start to colour. 

4. Once cooled, use the remaining apricot jam to make a glaze, and carefully glaze the surface of each tart.

Serve, along with Mascarpone which has been whipped with a slug of marsala.