Apple Frangipane Tart

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With its layers of flaky pastry, nutty- sweet almond frangipane and thinly sliced apples, this tart makes a great last-minute dessert and is showstoppingly gorgeous. It’s even more delicious served with lightly whipped crème fraîche.


Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, about 10 by 14 inches, thawed

For the frangipane:

1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, lightly toasted

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. almond extract

2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

2 large baking apples, such as Pink Lady or Gravenstein

1/2 lemon

1/4 cup apricot jam (optional)

Directions:

Position a rack in the upper third of an oven and preheat to 425°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the puff pastry into a 16-by-12-inch rectangle (it should just fit onto the baking sheet). Transfer to the prepared pan, fold over the edges of the pastry to form a rim and pinch the edges together. Refrigerate while you make the frangipane and prepare the apples.

To make the frangipane, in a food processor, combine the almonds, sugar and salt and process until the almonds are finely ground. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract and melted butter and process until the mixture comes together.

Peel and core each apple (or you can leave them unpeeled, if you like). Slice them very thinly crosswise (this is easiest on a mandoline, but you can use a sharp knife). In a bowl, toss the apple slices with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Prick the chilled puff pastry all over with a fork. Bake until it looks dried out and very lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Smear a thin, even layer of the frangipane on top of the pastry and then top evenly with the sliced apples. Bake until the tart is golden and the apples are crisp-tender, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.

If you want to make the tart fancy, heat the jam in a saucepan over low heat until it liquefies. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve set over a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the top of the tart with a thin coating of jam. Serve warm or at room temperature. Makes one 16-by-12-inch tart.

Baker’s note: The ideal way to slice the apples is with a mandoline, so you can be sure the slices are ultrathin and even. If you don’t have a mandoline, simply use a large, sharp knife to cut slices as thinly as possible.



Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Home Baked Comfort, by Kim Laidlaw (Weldon Owen, 2011).

Roast Duck Legs With Honey, Vinegar And Caramelized Apples

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I bought four duck legs with the best intentions of turning them into duck confit for pates and cassoulets in the future;  but I got lazy and decided instead to roast them and serve them with a sauce.  After glancing through a few cookbooks I came upon this recipe from Marie Blanche de Brouglie, Princess de Brouglie, and decided to give it a try.  Her cookbook, The Cuisine of Normandy, unfortunately, is out of print but I promise to post more of her fabulous recipes at a later date.. The original recipe is for Magrets de Canard Saint-Wandrille,  the latter being a Benedictine monastery founded by Count Wandrille in 649. 

I have substituted duck legs for duck breast, so feel free to use either.  The recipe has three parts, all of them terribly easy.  The first is making the sauce, then searing and roasting the duck and finally caramelizing the apples.  With all due to respect to Princess de Brouglie, after making the recipe, I think it makes more sense to do the apples first, then the sauce and finally roasting the duck, so this is what I would suggest for next time.

By the way, this is a strong candidate for this year's New Year's Eve dinner, so plan ahead.

...and, stay tuned, wait 'til you see what we are going to do with the leftover duck!

After searing and before they went into the oven

The sauce

Out of the oven

 Serves 4*

Ingredients

6 duck legs (whole with thighs) or 4 boneless duck breasts
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 Tb honey
2 Cups duck stock or rich brown chicken stock
6 TB butter
4 apples
Lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
about 1/3 cup tap water
3/4 cup ice water

Preheat oven 425.

Season duck with salt and pepper.  In a heavy iron skillet brown the legs or breasts over medium high heat starting with the skin side down to render fat.  The meat should be cooked rare, 3 to 4 minutes on each side.  Remove the duck to a heated plate and cover it with foil to keep warm.

Pour the fat out of the skillet (but save it for later use!) and deglaze pan with the vinegar.  Add the honey and stock and reduce the liquid to about 1 cup.  Whisk the butter into the sauce, a tablespoon at a time. Pour sauce into a bowl and wipe the pan with a paper towel.   You will be using the iron skillet later.

Peel, core and quarter the apples.  Trim the quarters into football shapes and rub them with the lemon juice.

In a saucepan,  combine the sugar with enough tap water to moisten it.  Cook over low heat until it reaches a deep golden color.  Quickly add the ice water, but be careful to stand back from the saucepan as it will spatter.  Add the apples and cook them in this caramel until tender.  (if you don't want to go through this, cook the apples in brown sugar and water...a little Calvados or brandy wouldn't hurt!)

Return duck legs to skillet and roast in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.  (Her recipe doesn't call for this but I cannot stand rare duck, and roasting crisps up the skin.  You might want to do less time if you are using breasts)

To serve, arrange duck legs, or breasts, on platter, pour sauce over them and surround with caramelized apples.

Note

If you cannot buy individual legs or breasts, cut up a couple of ducks, cook what you want and save the rest for later use.  Don't forget to keep the liver for pate!

I suggest 6 legs for four people as they can sometimes be quite small.  The worst that can happen is you will have one or two for the leftovers I will be posting next!

An Elegant Fall Menu For The Ladies Who Lunch...Apple Fall With Maple Cream

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One of the best transit systems in this country is in New York City.  I can't tell you a lot about the subway, since I refuse to ride it since 9/11,  but the buses are terrific, my favorite the M1- 4 along  5th Avenue heading south with the Madison Avenue one northbound.  I used to take both these buses to work every day when I lived in the city and it was a great start to my day.  Of course, you are riding along two of the chicest avenues in the world and the view of Central Park in the morning is second only to the action in the avenue. 

On the last day of my visit last month,   I was returning home on Madison Avenue around 4 o'clock when someone hopped on the bus that made me giggle.  A tall  40 -something young lady, dreadfully thin, with beatifully styled long blond hair , perfectly groomed,  dressed to the hilt, Hermes bag, unbukled of course,  a sytlish camel suit with silk blouse and pearls, a gold Cartier tank watch and very chic Manolo Blanik shoes.  The minute she sat down, she pulled her Smythson diary out of her bag and made some notes.  Well, well, well...nobody dresses like that in New York, at that hour of the day, unless you are, of course,one of the Ladies Who Lunch!  I'm not going to even venture a guess as to where she had just recently lunched for the possibilities are endless, but it goes to show you the kind of people who ride the bus in NYC



Nan Kempner, Pat Buckley and Betsy Bloomingdale



In case I haven't mentioned it before, Ladies Who Lunch is a phrase to describe "slim, well-off, old-money, well-dressed women who meet for lunch socially, normally during the working week. Typically, the women involved are married and non-working. Normally the lunch is in a restaurant, perhaps in a department store during shopping. Sometimes there is the pretext of raising money for charity." (Wikipedia)  That was before the Reagan years.  Since then, these ladies, some of whom employ full time chefs in their households, sometimes meet at home for an elegant lunch, no pretext of charity necessary.

The phrase was popularized by Elaine Stritch in the play Company by Stephen Sondheim. Take a look!

This dessert is from Anne Bass' chef and appears in the book R.S.V.P by Nan Kempner, a hostess par excellence, clothes horse and Chairman Emeritus of the Ladies Who Lunch.  Everytime I passed Mortimer's, their  favorite restaurant now defunct,  there she was in her corner table by the window.  Mrs. Kempner passed away a few years ago.  Nobody has been able to take her place.  Other members of the club in those days were Mrs. Alfred (Betsy) Bloomingdale, Nancy Reagan's best friend, Mrs. William (Pat) Buckley, Mrs. Oscar (Annette) de la Renta, and Princess Marie Chantal of Greece, chairman in training of the young set.

A Fall Lunch 

Curried Pumpkin And Leek Flans

Roasted Chicken Thighs With Breadcrumbs and Mushrooms

Yellow Rice Pilaf With Raisins And Almonds

Green Salad

Apple Fall with Maple Cream
(recipe follows)

Apple Fall With Maple Cream

The secret to this cake is the salted butter, something which is seldom used in baking

Serves 8

1 stick plus 3 TB salted butter

11 Tb sugar

3 large Mutsu apples

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

2C whole milk

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Confectioners suggar for dusting

Maple Cream

1/4 cup maple sugar

1 pint heavy cream

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375

Grease a 9 inch springform pan with 2 TB butter & dust with 2 Tb sugar.  Peel and core 2 apples and slice very thin. Layer apple sclices in concentric circles until bottom of the pan is covered.  Sprinkle the apple slices with 1 Tb sugar and dot with 1 Tb butter.  Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30 mins or until the apples are tender.  Remove from the oven and set aside.

Sift the flour together with 6 Tb sugar in a large mixing bowl.  In a cup whisk together the milk and eggs.  Make a well in center of the dry ingredients and pour milk mixture, whisking constantly, until thoroughly combined.

In a small saucepan, melt remaining 1/2 C butter with the vanilla in low heat.  Gradually combine with the batter, whisking constantly to combine.

Peel and core the remaining apple and slice very thin.  Pour the batter over the cooked apple slices and arrange the fresh-cut apple slices on top.  Sprinkle with the remaining 2 TB sugar and bake for 1 hour or until cake is puffed., golden and crusty around the edges.  Remove from oven and cool over wire rack for 15-20 minutes.

Make the maple cream while cake cools.  Using a whisk add the maple sugar to cream and beat briskly until soft peaks form.

Invert cake into a serving platter, dust with confectioners sugar and serve warm with the maple cream.


Wine: A robust California Chardonnay or French Burgundy can be served throughout the meal, but not too dry because of the curried flans


All Photos except #2 are by Quentin Bacon  in the book R.S.V.P. by Nan Kempner, unfortunately out of print

Photo #2 Google

Sunday Dinner in New York For Reggie Darling, Part I

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A few months back, I came upon a very interesting new blog named ReggieDarling.  Right from the beginning, I knew the person behind it was right up my alley.  He was witty, charming, well educated, a discerning collector, a beautiful writer and above all a gentleman, that rare species one only finds today in those of a certain age .  We became virtual friends when I started to comment on his blog and that friendship became a real one this past weekend when I visited New York and Reggie Darling took Lindaraxa to one of her favorite restaurants, La Grenouille.  Now, it takes a very generous and trusting soul to entertain a virtual stranger at such a temple of haut cuisine.  But that is the kind of guy he is.  We had a marvelous dinner, with an equally delightful Bordeaux and the added pleasure of meeting Boy Fenwick, Reggie Darling's partner in life and on the blog.




La Grenouille

 La Grenouille hasn't changed much... and that is a good thing.  The beautiful flowers are still there, together with the marvelous food and impeccable service.  It is one of the few Old Guard restaurants in New York City where it is still hard to get a table.  The night we were there, a Thursday, it was packed full.  The Magret de Caneton aux Agrumes, Pruneaux et Navets (Braised Duck Breast with Citrus and Turnips) was to die for as well as the little Canadian oysters for a first course.  Needless to say, we all had souffles for dessert.

The beautiful flowers of La Grenouille

Usually a dinner like this just ends there.  We meet, have a great chat, assert that the other is "for real" and get back to our blogs.  But the next morning when I woke up I felt that I wanted to do my part and reciprocate such a nice gesture.  Not only that, but  I really wanted to do something nice for this man.   So why not entertain Reggie D chez nous for Sunday Dinner? 

Sunday night is the perfect time to entertain when you want to keep it simple.  I know that New Yorkers, who eat out on most nights, really appreciate a home cooked meal, one where they don't have to dress up and where they can enjoy good old fashioned comfort food.  So I rang my new friend, who immediately accepted, and the party was on!  A couple of friends from out of town were also in the city and they were invited to round up the group.

After ascertaining the guest list for allergies and "can't eat" or "don't like" , I settled on Marcella Hazan's Lasagna Bolognese,  a green salad and an Apple and Cranbery Crisp for dessert.  I usually wouldn't pair these two on a menu, but the apples at the store looked divine and after all, what could be easier?  You have to remember kitchens in New York are on the small side and my friend doesn't like to cook so the pantry and the gadgets are limited. 

So there you have it.  A home cooked meal for a New York guy who can eat anywhere he wants to...I think that's a match, don't you?

Making the lasagna, still in my nightgown!



 The appetizers were simple. I had brought some Red Pepper Jelly from my local farmer's market as a gift for my hostess to serve over cream cheese with crackers.  This is an old Southern appetizer which everyone seems to love and something you definitely would not find at a New York dinner party.  Pork Rilletes, which I adore, were purchased at Dean & DeLuca although, in my humble opinion, mine are much better.

Saturday was a shopping day and the time to make the ragu which takes at least 4 hours to cook.  Luckily, the Yankees were still in the playoffs so waiting while the sauce simmered away was no pain.  On Sunday the lasagna was assembled, the apple crisp ready to bake, the table set and the New York Times read cover to cover.  We even had time for a nice walk around the reservoir and a stab at the crossword puzzle.

A gift of local apples from the guests of honor

A nice evening was had by all and I was delighted to see everyone go for seconds, especially Reggie D.  By 11:00 o'clock every dish was put away and the hostesses were tucked in their respective beds.  Now, as Ina would say "How easy was that"?

I'm glad I have such nice friends in New York, some old, some new, but all great!  Thank you for a wonderful time.

(Stay tuned for Part II where the lasagna recipe will be posted.  It's much too long for one post.)

Apple Photo: B.Fenwick
top photo Country Living

Help is On the Way!...Weekend Family Meals

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For most families nowadays, the week end is the only time to get together and have a nice meal as a family, particularly if Mom works.  It is also the only time available to go to the store and get your shopping done.  I know, I remember it well...boy,  how I hated Saturday mornings. One of the most common lines I get on the comments or on Twitter is "Great recipe, I think I'll try it this weekend!"

I was lucky enough to grow up at a time when there was a Dad who went to work and a Mom who stayed at home and took care of the kids.  She also cooked and baked cookies and wonderful casseroles.  There were no Barefoot Contessas or Giadas or Food TV and Gourmet magazine was only for the serious cook.  Our Moms cut recipes from Good Housekeeping,  Better Homes & Gardens and followed the Joy of Cooking almost as closely as Dr. Spock.  They also guarded those recipes with their lives.  Recipes didn't have great names then like Chicken Kielbasa with a Tomatillo Sauce on a Bed of Arugula & Goat Cheese.  They were simply Mrs. SoAndSo's Baked  Ham (we called everyone, Mr. & Mrs. in those days, never Mike, I'm your waiter tonight!).  Then came Julia and Martha and the Silver Palate.  Oh my, that first book of Martha's, Entertaining...  Most of the recipes didn't work, but who cared! we all wanted to be Martha, just like today we all want to be Ina and have a husband like Jeffrey.

Starting today, I am going to try to help working couples and Moms by posting a menu of past recipes that I think will work well in this context and which I think will be fun to share with your family at the end of the week.  This is your time to shine! It will be done according to the seasons so you can take advantage of what is in the grocery store and the farmers market. We'll play along with it but your feedback will be very helpful.  So, what do you think?

This weekend's recipe is Yankee Pot Roast with Mashed Potatoes (what else!) and apple crisp for dessert! They are both easy and go well together.  Wait til you get a whiff of the aromas emanating from this dish, rum, horseradish..By the time this baby finishes cooking you will have gone stark mad!  It is a wonderful start  to this series and a great recipe to have in your repertoire.

Above is Ina Garten's new kitchen/dining for inspiration.

Photo:  Google

Set the House on Fire With Apple Fritters!

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In the mid 60's, my mother set the house on fire making apple fritters.  Really, almost to the ground.  Needless to say, she hasn't made them ever since.  One night she left the frying pan on while she went down to take some to my grandmother and forgot all about it.  We ended up living in a hotel for the next 3 months!  First we lost all our things when we left Cuba, then we lost whatever we had managed to bring out, including our miniature Pinscher, Red, who went back to the house looking for her. You can't ever bring the subject up when she's around; but last night, I finally succeeded in getting the recipe out of her.

This year she is coming for Christmas and I think I will surprise her with some...or maybe not.  I do want to start off on the right foot and forty years might not be enough time....

I am really sorry that it has been off our repertoire,  for it is the kind of recipe that delights everybody, particularly children.  At home we usually served them as a side dish, especially if we were having roast pork or chops.

I have such an abundance of apples from our trip to the Kinsey Farm that tomorrow is going to be apple day...homemade apple sauce for my granddaughter and apple fritters for the rest of us kids! 

Yield:  About 32 fritters

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold beer (not dark)

10 cups vegetable oil

2 apples (1 lb), peeled, cored, and sliced n 1/4 inch thick round slices

Confectioners or regular sugar for dusting


Preparation

Stir together flour, granulated sugar, and salt, then add beer and whisk to combine. Heat oil in a 5-quart heavy pot until thermometer registers 375°F.

Dip apple slices in batter, shaking off excess, and fry, about 8 at a time, until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer fritters with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Serve warm, dusted with confectioners or regular sugar and don't forget to turn off the stove!

My Aunt's Caramelized Baked Apples

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It's apple season and I'm in the middle of it! Autumn is in the air, the days are sunny and bright, the nights cool and crisp and if you have apples baking in the oven, we'll you might as well be in heaven!

The apple festivals are about to start. I remember years ago the one in Hendersonville, North Carolina, where I lived, and I can't wait to finish unpacking so I can start enjoying the area. It's been so cool here at night, at least for us Floridians, that we've started lighting the fireplace the past couple of nights. That's what reminded me of baked apples and my aunt's recipe.

Now, baked apples are as simple a dessert as you can make. I usually bake them with brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, butter and a little sherry . Put everything on top and that's it. This recipe has some different ingredients than what you are used to and its delicious. Make sure, though, that the apples are thoroughly cooked. The cooking time depends on the apples and the oven so sometimes it may take up to an hour for the apples to be soft. This may be an easy recipe but there is nothing worse than under cooked baked apples.

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 Rome apples, cored
1 orange, grated zest of
6 TB raisins
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup unsalted butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 Cup honey
1 cup orange juice or apple cider
2-3 cinnamon sticks


Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Make a round cavity on top of the apples about 1/2 inch deep. Place the apples in a 2 inch deep baking pan. In a bowl mix the orange zest, the raisins, the brown sugar and the cinnamon. Add mixture to inside of the apple cavities. Whatever doesn't fit sprinkle in bottom of pan. Cut the butter in 6 slices and place on top of the apples. In a small pan mix the honey and orange juice or apple cider until hot and the honey dissolved. Cook for about a minute, until it just comes to a boil, and drizzle on top of the apples. Add a couple of cinnamon sticks to the pan. Bake uncovered for 45 mins. to 1 hour. Baste the apples at least twice during baking. Test to make sure they are soft with a fork. Serve hot or room temperature. Vanilla ice cream is great, but not necessary.

Note

For more apple recipes, check out http://mykitchenbythelake.blogspot.com/