Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Tarte de Pommes



Thanks to my lovely mother, I own a copy of the book COOKING by James Peterson. Over the past year I have used this book to guide me in finding and attempting new recipes...recently it was Classic French Apple Tart. I must admit that I totally cheated on this recipe. First, I did not make my own tart dough (used store bought refrigerated pie crust...so convenient!) and second, I used my favorite little ceramic pie dish because I do not own any tart pans. Other than that I followed the recipe, which is quite easy and brief. The final product? Well, it was not on par with the baking from a patisserie francais, but it sure was tasty. However, I got caught up in eating the spiced apple sauce that makes the base layer of fruit for the tart. Next time I buy apples I will just make a batch of apple sauce and forget about baking it into a pretty tart. The tart was quite pretty though; I would say the major benefit of following the technique taught in the book was aesthetics. Now I know how simple it is to make an appealing apple design atop a tart. Overall, I would say that I spent a little too much time on this recipe, despite my shortcuts, for it to be worth making often. It was still an enjoyable dessert and I'm glad I tried this instead of making the usual apple pie.

2 comments:

Nell Ferragamo said...

I have always wondered the difference between a tart and a pie. Help! Is the only difference that the pie has a dough top?

m.j. aquino said...

In my opinion the difference is pretty trivial. A tart typically does NOT have a top layer of dough; however there are pies out there with no dough on top as well. Both tarts and pies can be sweet or savory.

There is a difference in cooking vessels: A pie dish has angled sides while a tart pan has straight sides.

Perhaps the big difference is where these types of foods originated...some reading for my to-do list.

If you like foodie definitions, try to get your hands on Food Lover's Companion by Herbst.

Thanks for reading the blog! Ciao.