A Country Apple Galette

At the last moment before checking out I grabbed the apples, there was something about them as they called to me from the outdoor bin. Returning home I perused my mornings purchase from the farmers market and thought to myself; now what am I going to do with these....so they sat there in a bowl on the counter day after day. Five days later I stumbled upon this recipe from the Food and Wine Magazine; October, 2011 from Jacques Pepin. Magic is the only way to describe this tart. I used granny smith apples instead of the golden delicious that the recipe called for and followed the rest of the directions per letter. The result....the crust is everything it should be, the filling crisp and tart. This is truly a home run.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup ice water

Topping:

4 Golden Delicious apples (Used Granny Smith)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

To prepare:

In a food processor, combine the flour with the sugar, salt and butter and process for about 5 seconds. Sprinkle the ice water over the flour mixture and process until the pastry just begins to come together, about 10 seconds; you should be able to see the small pieces of butter in it. Transfer the pastry to a work surface, gather it together and pat into a disk. Wrap the pastry in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate until chilled. (You can also roll out and use right away) (I refrigerated mine and rolled out after I had apples cut and everything else ready to go.)

Then peel, halve and core apples, slice crosswise 1/4 inch thick. Set aside the lager center slices and coarsely chop the end slices and any broken ones, about 1/2 of the slices should be chopped. In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon.

Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry to fit a pie or tart pan. Spread the chopped apples over the pastry to within 1 inch of the edge. Drizzle the honey over the chopped apples. Decoratively arrange the apple slices on top in concentric circles or in slightly overlapping rows. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the apples and dot with the pieces of butter. Fold pastry edge up to form the border.

Bake galette for about 1 hour, until the pastry is nicely browned and crisp and the apples are tender. Transfer the pan to a rack and let cool. Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Note to self: Jacques Pepin is a very famous French chef and cookbook author. Will check out more of his recipes for sure. Has a cooking show on PBS Saturday mornings.